The Thirteenth Hour
by shadowwritr
Summary: What happens when Stephanie's world gets turned upside down by a 15 year old skip? Mayhem, madness, and other devices ensue. Join Steph as she gets control of her life, and possible finds she may just not mind this 15 year old coming to screw with her.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer** I do not own any of the Plum Characters, they are the envision of Janet Evanovich, I have just borrowed them to come out and play for a spell. Any other characters that have popped up from my plot are of my own making and those I do own. I am not getting any royalties from any of this, and these characters shall be returned when finished. **End Disclaimer**

"Last fight and you're free to leave."

Alex looked at the man, his grin was lopsided. The scar running the length of his mouth and across his right cheek didn't help with any enduring qualities. Keeping her eyes on the man, Alex felt him release the cuff on her right wrist. He took her right hand in his and brought it up to his lips and kissed the bloody and bruised knuckles. Her stomach almost revolted as she snatched her hand away from him. He gave a soft chuckle.

"That was what you said about the last one." She bit out through gritted teeth.

"Cross my heart and hope to die!" He said as he crossed his heart this time.

Looking towards the open doorway, Alex just shook her head and started walking out. It wouldn't be the last fight; she knew it wouldn't. She had seen the glimmer of excitement in his eyes after she won the first fight. No light ever came into this place and she wasn't even sure what day it was anymore, the pit boss had taken her watch and had failed to return it.

Stopping at the door she turned and looked back at her capturer, she wasn't even doing this for herself; her mother had gotten her into this mess. She didn't like her mother, she loathed her, and her mother always did something to make her life miserable. "Last one, then I'm leaving."

He pushed Alex through the doorway and shut the door behind him. "Your mother is a screw-up, but I like you, last fight, I give you my word. Your mother owes me too much, so she's staying."

_Damn fence!_ Alex thought. She hated her mother, her mother was always getting money from loan sharks, always putting her in the position of getting her ass out of the deep water. Alex knew she had gone too far this time. She knew the man beside her wouldn't let her mother walk out, she knew she wouldn't be able to walk out either. For the last two weeks she had been in this hell hole trying to stay alive. Trying to stay one step ahead of anyone they put in the pit with her. Her choice hadn't been a good one, but had been to either fight her way out of the debt or spread her legs for it. Alex didn't have a choice, she had seen what happened to another girl who had been in her situation who took the last option. The last one choice hadn't been an option. The man standing beside her put his hand on her shoulder and led her down the hall up and out of the basement. He had said her mother was staying, she felt pretty sure her mother was dead.

She could hear the crowd already, the last time she did this, there had been at least around seventy people around the pit. The doors opened and two more goons were standing at the end of the hall and Alex walked through with her fight manager; that was what they called him. She knew better, he was the enforcer for the man behind the scene. Walking down the stairs into the pit she saw the same man who had been there two days ago, she could feel his eyes on her as she turned and glared at him. She didn't like the way his lip started to almost grin at the ends when she had glared at him.

Ranger felt Stephanie's nails as it dug into his leg. He put his hand over hers. He found this kid for her a week ago. Ranger was still finding it hard to believe that Vinnie, the slime ball that he was, had written a bond for a fifteen year old. The kid hadn't been burg material, she did get assault charges pressed against her for assault on a peace officer, and had done some damage, a broken arm. She had thrown him over her shoulder and twisted his arm so fast and drove a fist hammer into his arm to break it. She tried to make amends with the cop, but he hadn't been listening. And he felt the need to keep the charges pressed against her, and also the judge had put stipulations on her bond that it stayed in place while she was on pre-trial diversion. If she missed one probation meeting, the bond would be revoked and she would be placed back in lock-up.

"How are we going to get her out of here?" Stephanie hissed in Ranger's ear.

"I've come up with something. Relax." Ranger said quietly back to her.

He continued watching the kid glare at him as she passed by. He noted the new bruises and cuts. Turning in his seat he caught sight of the blonde at the other end of the room, Teri Gilman had walked in with Joe Morelli.

"Opportunity may be knocking." Ranger nodded across the room and saw Stephanie recognize her boyfriend.

"What is he doing here?"

"I'd say he's working." Ranger squeezed Stephanie's hand again as it dug deeper into his leg. At this rate she was going to be bruising him. "Quit getting jealous, we have a job to do here. Sit tight."

Ranger stood up and started walking back out of the room and nodded to Tank and Lester. He had several men in this room. He was doing this all for a damn fifty dollars; that was the total amount from the cut from the bond that the kid had on her head. But, Stephanie had gone maternal on him. He hated when she did that. She could weasel him into doing anything when she went maternal on him over a skip. Problem was, he had a feeling the kid didn't skip on her last probation meeting by accident. This kid wasn't a bad kid, just needed a little guidance and a push in the right direction.

Joe had seen Ranger and excused himself from Teri, he ended up meeting with Ranger out in the hall. "What is Steph doing here?"

"Working, the kid is her skip."

Joe looked back through the door as the kid was waiting by the chain link gate. Looking back at Ranger "She's the one who broke Gaspick's arm."

Ranger grinned at him. "Yup. And, she's been fighting for her life for the last two weeks. Matches are fight to the death."

Ranger turned and walked back to his seat and sat down by Stephanie.

Alex stepped into the chain pit. Ultimate style fighting. She looked at the man on the far side of the octagonal pit. He looked positively happy at seeing who he would be fighting. Alex assessed him, he wasn't too big, but he had at least fifty pounds on her and a good foot in height. She stood only five – five, and weighted less than nothing. Standing still she watched him push off from the cage and start coming over towards her. She didn't stand still and started backing away around the fence. Keeping her back away from him and keeping him in eye contact the whole time.

She hadn't killed anyone yet. She had put them asleep, she knew several sleeper grappling holds. Her martial arts training had been keeping her alive the last two weeks at the same time keeping the people she was fighting alive. The man who ran the show didn't really like it, but he had at least not done anything to her yet. She looked out at the audience and saw him sitting, his dark eyes watching her as she kept the man inside the cage away. He had a smile on his face.

"Last fight!" He said, his voice gravely and deep.

Alex looked back at the man in the cage. Last fight, she didn't believe it. That wasn't the rules. She had to kill him in order to walk out of this place alive. That was the rule, the only rule she couldn't bring herself to do. She hadn't killed anyone before, broken a few bones, but never murder.

"Come on baby, I'll make it painless." The man in the ring stated. "Only one of us can walk out of here. You don't want them hurting you anymore." The man pointed to her hands.

She looked down at them, the guy didn't have a clue, she hadn't gotten this from her capturers. She had gotten these from inside this ring. Alex looked back up at him and fain fear of him and kept circling the ring.

"What is she doing?" Stephanie asked Ranger.

"Assessing her prey." Ranger whispered into Steph's ear. "She won't make a move until she knows she can take him."

Ranger watched as Alex kept circling the cage. Last week Bobbie had actually been able to tape one of the fights. They all sat down in the control room and watched the kid in action. Ranger had learned where she had taken martial arts and found out she was actually a junior instructor at the school. She had been paying the bills in the apartment her and her mother lived in while her mother had been getting deeper into debt and higher than a kite.

Ranger looked over to Victor Shiropolli, he was sitting across the isle from him and Stephanie. He was the man who yelled out to the kid that it was the last fight. Ranger only hoped it really was. He didn't think Alex would be able to hold up under the pressure she was under much longer.

Alex waited until the guy made the lung, instinct kicked in as she sent double fists to his chest to stop his momentum. She felt him try to grab and she chambered both of her arms to her side and then double fisted his crotch.

Joe twisted in his seat and grimaced at seeing the shot she gave the man. He gritted his teeth and glanced over towards Victor Shiropolli. He wanted to bring that man down, this was a kid in this fight ring. This was taking loan sharking to a whole new level. Don't pay back what you owe and you had to go into the pit. Joe had been hearing rumors floating around for some time. He had talked with Vito and Teri, Teri had a way to get him inside.

"She'll win," Teri told him. "She always has. But she has never killed anyone. If you kill someone you get to walk, she's been in ten fights in the last two weeks."

Joe looked at Teri, "Is that why she's still here?"

Teri nodded. "She's defying Shiropolli. Look at him, he actually likes this kid."

Looking back to Shiropolli, he could see what Teri was saying, the man was grinning at the kid in the ring as she now had the man's hands off of her and just swept his leg out from under him and took him down to the ground. Joe swung back and watched as she twisted the man's wrist and leveled her fist by her right ear and brought it down on the bend where the man's arm was bent over her knee. The snap was heard like a gunshot along with the scream. She had broken his arm. Joe swallowed hard as he saw the bone come through the flesh. She hadn't done that with Gaspick. She had controlled her power with Gaspick.

"I think Gaspick is luckier than what he thinks. He walks around bitching that she broke his arm, the bone never went through the skin on him though."

Teri gave Morelli a half grin, "I think she's giving Shiropolli a show."

Stephanie hid her face in Ranger's shoulder. She felt sick. Ranger reached around and pulled Stephanie in tighter. "Don't watch anymore."

"I'm not." Stephanie told him. Taking in deep breaths.

Alex threw the man's arm off her leg and walked over towards Shiropolli, grabbing the chain in front of her. "Let me out."

Shiropolli grinned at her, "Kill him and you'll be let out."

Alex turned around and banged her head on the fence. That wasn't the answer she wanted. "I won't do it!" she growled out in her frustration.

Stephanie felt the tears start to pool in her eyes. "Get them to stop."

Ranger moved his right hand over Stephanie's cheek and kissed the top of her head that was buried in his chest. "I can't. I warned you coming in, this could happen. We can't do anything just yet Babe."

Shiropolli stood up and moved towards the pit, Alex spun back around and faced him. "Do it and I'll let you live."

"I won't." Alex growled, "I can't." Her fingers were curled around the links in the fence.

Shiropolli reached up and rubbed his thumb over her bloody fingers. "You can do anything you set your mind too. Your mother put you in here; he put himself here. I've been lenient enough with you. Do what I said and you'll leave."

Alex could hear the man's screams in the cage, her soul felt like it was being wretched into. She looked down at her hand where Shiropolli was caressing hers. She felt sick and looked back at the man on the floor. Her heart was pounding in her chest; her breath was coming fast. She watched as he was rolling around on the pit floor.

"Put him out of his misery, end it, and make it fast and quick." Alex herd Shiropolli hiss as she felt the lips brush her fingers. She pulled her hands away from the fence and strode towards the man on the floor. Her anger boiling away.

Ranger watched as Shiropolli was playing with the kid's head. Inside he was seething, he could see how Alex was breathing fast, her reactions jerky from the anger that was coursing through her veins. He wanted to rip Shiropolli's head off. It would make him feel better; it would probably make Alex feel better. His hands were tied. He watched as she lunged down at the man on the floor and rolled him so her legs were crossed around his stomach, her arms had gone under his armpits locking his neck into position and she squeezed. Ranger gave a small smile, the kid was putting the guy to sleep. The screams of the man died away. Alex released him and rolled him off of her. She stood up and glared at Shiropolli, "You want him dead, do it yourself. I'm not your fucking toy."

Joe had to bite his tongue so he wouldn't laugh out loud. The kid had grit, and backbone of steel. He glanced at Teri who was grinning. "He'll let her go, look at his face."

Joe looked back at Shiropolli. He was actually smiling at the kid. "Open the gate."

Alex watched him warily, but walked out the gate when it was open. Shiropolli came up to her and grabbed the back of her head and tilted her face up. "You are lucky I like you. Damn lucky."

He released her and grabbed her shoulder as he spun around to walk back to his seat dragging her with him and stopped at the stairs as he saw Ranger. "Ranger … Are you here for another skip?"

Ranger gave a brief nod.

"Then get your man and leave." Shiropolli told him.

"I will if you'll release her so I can take her." Ranger told him.

Shiropolli looked down at Alex and laughed. "Dear me, what did she do?" He asked as he looked back at Ranger.

"Broke a police officer's arm, she missed her last probation meeting last week." He told him smoothly.

"She was busy. I can't let her leave just yet." Shiropolli stated.

Alex looked back at Ranger. She had seen him take a man out in cuffs two days ago when he was here. Her breathing was still fast and erratic with the adrenaline that was flowing through her.

"I believe her mother owes you fifty large."

Shiropolli narrowed his eyes at Ranger. "Are you suggesting to buy the note?"

Ranger gave a nod.

Shiropolli looked down at Alex. "One hundred large."

Alex looked up at him, "You told me it was only seven. A thousand a fight."

"I lied." He looked back at Ranger. "Do we have a deal?"

Ranger kept looking at Shiropolli, He could feel Stephanie's nod in his chest. She was willing to pay it. Stephanie had already cost him at least that much. His eyes moved towards Joe and he saw the nod. Joe wanted the kid out of there as well. He never paid for an FTA. It wasn't in his nature. He had gotten money withdrawn from one of his business accounts though, he knew Shiropolli only talked money. He looked at Alex. Alex was staring at him shaking her head no. He saw Shiropolli's hand go to her neck and squeeze. "Be still, you don't have a say in this." Shiropolli hissed at Alex.

"One hundred large." Ranger nodded towards Tank. Tank stood up with the briefcase. Tank couldn't believe Ranger was doing this. They never bargained for FTA's. It just wasn't done.

Shiropolli smiled and looked back at his man. "Get the case."

The man walked over to Tank and took the case. He walked it to Shiropolli and opened the case, Shiropolli glanced at it and seemed satisfied. He released the kid and pushed her forward. "Get out of here."

Alex started walking up the stairs. Ranger stood pulling Stephanie with him. Ranger half drug Stephanie out in the hall. Alex walked through the door with Tank right behind her. Once they reached outside the building Ranger's phone rang. He pulled it out and flipped it open. "You owe me, Morelli."

"You'll get it back, just let me talk to that kid."

Ranger looked at Alex, "Not tonight. I think she's earned at least that much." Ranger shut the phone off before Morelli could say more.

Stephanie finally got a hold of herself, "What did you do that for?"

"You told me to get your FTA out anyway I could."

"I didn't know you were going to pay for her." Stephanie stopped walking and looked up at Ranger. "You're crazy."

"I'm not," He reached over and lifted her chin. "You went maternal on me, even you said yes in there. I'll just write it off as entertainment."

Alex looked at the two of them, she shook her head, she wasn't staying with them, these people had lost it. She inched a little more away from them as Tank had stopped and looked back at Ranger and Stephanie. She saw her moment and bolted.

Ranger looked up. "Fuck! My FTAs never run." He started after Alex.


	2. Chapter 2

Alex kept running, she could hear the feet that pounded on the ground behind her. Rounding one of the cars in front of her she slid on the loose gravel as a hand came down and grabbed the back of the t-shirt she had on. Alex went limp and raised her arms quickly and the shirt came off, rolling to her hands she placed both feet into Ranger's chest and kicked off sending him back a few steps and then came down and took off again running in only her gi bottom and sports bra.

"Fuck!" Ranger tossed the shirt back and it landed on Tank's chest.

Lester came out and saw Tank chasing after Ranger and Stephanie chasing after them. Lester went to the SUV and jumped in and started it, not sure what was going on but he had the feeling that they didn't keep the FTA with them. He snickered, "Only Stephanie's FTAs run." He said to the empty vehicle.

Bringing the SUV around, Lester stopped and picked up Stephanie first. She got in slamming the door. "Ranger is going to kill me."

"No he won't." Lester told her.

"Yes he will, I just cost him a hundred grand." Stephanie couldn't fathom what she was going to have to give up in order to pay him back. "This skip is only worth fifty bucks."

Lester grinned, "I know, life's a bitch."

Stephanie sent him a death glare, which only had him laugh even more.

Lester slammed on the brakes as he saw Ranger and Tank looking down an embankment. He got out of the vehicle and looked over the edge. "There is no way she went down that."

Ranger pointed out beyond towards the small patch of woods down and on the other side of the sewage sludge. "She's over there now."

Tank shook his head and started walking down the right side looking for a safe way down. He had seen Ranger stop and almost go plunging down into the crap himself. Tank kept shaking his head, they had her and lost her. He looked back at Lester and Ranger, Ranger was now on the phone. This was going to be a long night, and all because Stephanie had asked help for one little skip. One little skip that wasn't even an adult yet.

Alex slowed down once she hit the woods and looked back up at the ledge. She wasn't sure what she had just ran through, but she was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to smell any longer. Stopping at the tree she bent over and wretched up what little bit of food they had given her several hours before the fight. She spat out the puke taste in her mouth and saw the men walking along the edge. They hadn't wanted to follow her, she didn't blame them. She didn't want to wade through that crap again if she could stand it. Alex didn't know where she was, but she had to get moving before they found a way to cross what she had ran through. She turned and started walking through the woods. It had to lead somewhere, anywhere was better than where she had been. Anywhere was better than what she feared the man, Ranger, had paid for her.

_Not my problem,_ Alex thought to herself while she walked. _I didn't ask him to pay that money. _Thoughts of her mother filled her head as she walked, she was pretty sure she was dead. Dead. Looking down at her black gi bottoms, Alex thought she reeked of death and decay. Alex shook her head and kept walking.

"James is going to kill me." Alex said out loud to herself, "he's going to be so pissed I haven't been teaching the classes."

Alex kept thinking, if she could only get back to the karate school, she could clean up, get changed, and think. The more she thought of it, the better the idea sounded. She had clothes there, there was shower, first aid kit, everything she needed. All but money, she'd have to wait for James to come in, and then she could get him to give her the months worth of lessons she already taught. He always held the money for her because she never trusted her mother not to take it. Any time she hid it in the apartment her mother found it and spent it just as quickly. She needed money, she needed a hundred grand to get the Ranger guy off her back. She made twenty an hour for teaching karate, tae kwon do, and only worked twenty-five hours a week. The hours that the school was opened up. James had given her chance and she had been doing it for a solid year now. The only time she missed a class was when she had to visit her probation officer. She groaned as she remembered she didn't make the last visit. Picking up a stick she broke it in half.

"So much for my freedom," she said into the night air that was humid and sticky. "Dumb fucking prick officer."

Tank didn't find a way down that wouldn't have you wading through sewage. He went back to where Ranger was. "Now what?"

"I have Bobbie coming out and few other men, I want those woods combed through." Ranger turned and looked at Stephanie who was still sitting in the SUV. He left Tank and Lester and went to the door and wrenched it open.

"Let's go Babe," Ranger said as he grabbed her hand and gave it a tug. "Let's get you back home."

"I'm sorry, this always happens to me. I thought since she lived close to Slayerland by bringing you in nothing would go wrong." Stephanie started explaining to him. Trying to rationalize why her FTAs always seemed to be the weird, deranged, and oddly the bottom feeders of the life pool.

Ranger gave a shrug, "Entertainment."

It hadn't been entertainment three months ago. Ranger had walked into her apartment and gave himself over to save her and his daughter. She had fell apart, fell apart so bad at knowing that one of the men in her life was walking into a situation that was going get them killed. She went to see Ranger after he got released from the hospital. She still hadn't told him she loved him. Stephanie, the master of denial, was still debating that part of her life. Something she did rather well.

"Where do you think she'll go next?" Stephanie asked him.

"Where she feels comfortable." Ranger said as he reached his car. He opened the passenger door and waited as Stephanie got in before he shut it. Going around to his side he climbed in and started the car. He drove Stephanie back to her apartment while he stayed in his zone. He stopped the car in her lot, Stephanie unbuckled the seat belt and had the door open, and he reached over and grabbed her chin. "Don't go in Slayerland, don't go anywhere near it."

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "I'm not stupid, been there done that."

"I know you Babe, you aren't going to let this go. She'll make a mistake, when she does, we'll nab her." Ranger stated.

Stephanie moved her head and looked back towards the apartment building entrance. "Why did you say Joe owed you? This was my skip."

Ranger moved his hand back to the gearshift on the car and put it in park. "He gave the go ahead to pay to have her released. I talked with him and Teri before taking you there last tonight. Shiropolli only knows money, that's the only language he talks in, Babe."

Stephanie looked back at Ranger, "So the feds will cover it?"

"Since he gave the go ahead, they will. They want Shiropolli brought down, they have that chance if they get the girl." Ranger moved his hand and picked up Stephanie's and brought it to his lips and kissed it. He watched how her breathing hitched with the rise of her breasts and how she let it back out slowly. The current of chemistry that ran between them stayed sparking between them. "Let Joe do his job, stay away from Shiropolli's business. Concentrate on the skip, but don't go in Slayerland."

Stephanie took her hand away. She got out of the car and walked towards the apartment, at least she didn't have to tell Joe the girl got away. That was Ranger's business, it was his money he used to get her out of Shiropolli's hands.

Ranger kept the car in park until Stephanie made it inside the apartment building, he picked up his phone and dialed Morelli.

"Changed your mind about me talking to her tonight?" Morelli asked.

"Nope, she got away." Ranger grimaced as he heard Morelli swearing on the other side.

"You know the feds aren't going to cover what they can't get out of her if we don't have her." Morelli told him. "They'll make you eat that hundred grand."

"If they make me eat it, then the kid is mine." Ranger told him. "You told me if they agreed they would return the money. They don't return my money I dished out then the kid is mine and all deals are off."

Ranger kicked the car into gear and started driving out of Stephanie's lot. "You must have a death wish if you want to keep that kid." Morelli growled.

"At least I don't drink antacids by the case." Ranger snarled back into the phone.

"Don't remind me," Morelli jeered back at him. "Is Steph home now?"

"Just dropped her off."

"I'll see what I can do about the money. I can't promise anything now, I told them we would have access to the girl tomorrow. Now I have to tell them you lost her." Morelli hung up.

Ranger shut the phone off. He drove until he made a pass by the apartment the kid lived in. He had been inside three days ago. There wasn't much in there, the only room that really showed any life to it was the kid's room. Ranger couldn't really figure out what it was about this kid, but all the guys felt a pull towards her. She came from the wrong side of the street, had a small wrap sheet, not much, but the kid had a set of ethics and she drew the line at murder, even risking her own life in the process to not take a life. What Shiropolli put her through for two weeks was sheer hell. Ranger could relate with the kid, most of the guys in his company could relate with this kid. She was a lot like them, only with a different package. He shut the car off as he pulled into the lot that housed the karate school. He had asked himself over and over again if he was this kid, where would be the first place he would go when he could get there. She spent more time at the school, he had talked with the owner, James Spragget.

Spragget had been real talkative about the girl, he always called her Alex. Ranger reached for the file that was on the back seat and leaned back he opened it up. Caitlyn Alexandria Ramono, age fifteen, worked for Trenton Karate Acadamy, sophomore at Trenton High School. Ranger flipped through the school information, not a lot of trouble with school, she had problems with math though, he noticed she failed and had to repeat most of her math classes during the summer. He flipped to the next sheet to her work history which consisted of the one job. Spragget had started paying her six months ago when she turned fifteen, he looked at the notes he had written in the file after talking with the man.

Lone wolf, keeps to herself and stays out of trouble, hasn't been in any more trouble since the probation. Very independent, doesn't trust easy, but is good with kids. Ranger closed the file and sat watching the lot. His cell phone rang.

"Yo." Ranger answered.

"Woods are totally clean. She's totally out of them, no sign of her on the road though." Tank told him.

"Go watch the apartment, I'm at the karate school." Ranger hung up the phone.

Alex climbed out of the back of the truck, she had made it all the way out of the woods and climbed into the back of a truck after it stopped to pull the branch she had laid in the road. The man had to get out and remove the branch or drive over it. It had been a lot of work to put that branch in the road to get away as fast as she could, she had to guess about the direction she needed to go, but after the truck had jumped up on the highway and she saw the signs for Trenton she knew she had made the right decision. She had waited for the truck to stop and the man to go away before she sat up to see her surroundings. She smiled at thinking of keeping herself moving this far.

Getting out of the truck she started walking down the street to find out where she was. She recognized the street name and knew she was in the better part of Trenton. Getting to the karate school was going to be a chore, it would be easier if she had a shirt on least instead of a sports bra and her gi bottoms. Alex stayed close to the shadows as much as possible and waited till no cars were around before she crossed any streets. Thirty minutes later she was walking towards the lot that had the karate school in it. She scanned the lot and noticed the expensive black car sitting in the lot beside the Uhaul truck. She was coming across the lot on the north side from around the businesses that she had skirted around the back. She sat down and watched the car, she couldn't see real well from where she was at and couldn't be sure if no one was inside it.

Ranger shifted in the car. He was beginning to doubt whether or not she was going to show. He looked at his watch, four thirty in the morning. He was sure she had plenty of time to get here by now. His cell phone had rung, so he answered it. Tank hadn't picked up anything at the apartment yet. Ranger scanned the lot and turned his head to look back over towards the other businesses on the north side. He would have come in from the south, but now he was wondering if she would have come in from the north side. He would be exposed from the north.

Alex was getting antsy, she shifted while she was squatting behind the light post. Ranger saw the shadow move on the concrete under the light. He grinned, she had come from the direction he didn't think she would. She had actually walked out of her way to come from that direction. He cranked over the engine and headed for the exit to the lot. He wanted her inside that school, not outside.

Seeing the car drive away, Alex waited and stood up, she sprinted to the door of the school and punched in the numbers on the keypad. Her access code worked and she heard the door open up. James had this installed so she didn't have to carry a key around to get inside the school. She slipped inside and heard the lock click in place behind her and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Ranger gave her fifteen minutes and pulled into the lot again, this time leaving his car hidden behind the Uhaul so she wouldn't be able to see it from the front window of the school. This kid was making him look bad. He had to draw on his street smarts to get on this kids level. He slipped over the door that had the keypad and punched in the numbers. James's computer system had been too easy to break into and he had pulled the code to the door. He slipped inside and listened. He could hear water running coming from the back of the school. Walking softly he made his way back to the rear of the school and went in slowly through the hall. He read the signs of the dressing rooms and heard the water coming from the female side.

Ranger moved till he was in front of the door and leaned back on the wall. He wouldn't walk in and freak her out. Ranger didn't think she needed company in the shower, the stench in the place was revolting, he figured she was going to have to burn the clothes she brought in.

Alex turned off the water. The shower was great, she felt a lot better now that she felt clean. The room reeked, but she would get rid of the clothes and air out the place before James came in. She grabbed the towel and dried herself off, glancing in the mirror in the dressing room she just realized how much bruising she had over her body. She knew she hurt like hell, she looked bad. Going to her locker she opened it up and pulled out the clean gi bottoms she had inside and slipped them on, she grabbed a pair of socks on the bottom of the locker and slipped them on. She pulled down one of the t-shirts hanging and slipped it over her head. Taking the bag she brought from the store room she picked up the clothes she had put in earlier, even with stuffing them in the bag and twisting them up in it she could still smell the stench of sewage from them.

Alex opened the door to the hall and stopped short when she saw shoes. She looked up into the eyes of the man who had paid for her release from Shiropolli. "Shit!"

Alex tossed the bag at Ranger and dove out into the hall and did a barrel roll coming back up on her feet, she pushed off from her feet and went down, the socks slipping on the linoleum. Ranger had batted the bag away from him and turned to go get his prey and saw her sprawled faced down on the floor. She had forgotten her shoes. He grabbed the back of her shirt and gi bottoms and yanked her to a standing position.

"Slow down tiger, we have business to discuss." Ranger told her.

Alex pushed her hands behind her trying to get him to release her but he wasn't letting go. "We don't have any business to discuss." Alex turned back to look at him and saw the grin on his face, "Let me go, dickhead."

"Such a little potty mouth, that isn't very lady like." Ranger told her as he assessed how he was going to take her down now. The problem was he really didn't want to grab her, she probably knew a few moves to get out of holds that way. Most of his skips didn't know defense, they were just down right out mean. Steph's skips always seemed to surprise him, and he didn't really want any surprises from the one he had in his hands right now.

"Fuck off!"

Ranger picked her up and she went swinging with her face towards the floor. "Watch your mouth! You aren't in the position for any negotiations yet." He walked back into the main part of the school lugging the load in his arms. He stopped when he saw the first aid box and hoisted her back to her feet. "Make yourself useful and grab the first aid box."

Alex looked back at him. "What do you want with me?"

"You are in violation of your bond agreement." Ranger glared at her, "now grab the first aid box."

Alex reached out and took it. "Let me go."

"No! You have a way of getting away. I'm not that stupid." Ranger moved towards the manager's office, "Open the door."

Alex opened the door, when she did that Ranger took them inside and let her go and reached behind him and pulled the door shut. The room was pitch black. He reached to his right and found the switch and turned on the light. Alex was looking at him, Ranger was watching her eyes, watching her assess him.

"Sit down and lets get your knuckles fixed up." Ranger pointed towards the chair by the wall. Alex looked at the chair and then down towards the box in her hands. "You throw that at me and I'll bind you to that chair and fix up your knuckles myself. Sit down!"

Alex kept looking at the box, she hated that he knew what she was thinking. She could still see her knuckles were bleeding, the shower had opened them up more as she had to scrub all the muck off herself. Since she was going to be doing this anyway she moved over to the chair and sat down.

"Good. I'm not going to hurt you, I won't cuff you, if you don't try to run." Alex looked up at him.

She glared at him. "When are you going to take me to the police station?"

"When we are through talking, maybe not even then. I need to make a phone call before I take you in. It depends on what the feds want to do with you. You have a bargaining chip to keep your butt out of jail. You have information they need on Shiropolli." Ranger spelled it out for her.

Alex looked back at the box in her lap and then opened it up. She found the pads that would be able to clean her knuckles up, she thought about what he said. "Shiropolli will kill me if I talked, screw the feds, they can make their case without me."

"They've been working on that for months, Shiropolli's debtors don't talk after they walk out of the pit." Ranger told her.

Alex snapped her head up and looked at him, "Who would talk after they murdered someone. That's a one way ticket to the joint."

"On the nose tiger." Ranger moved away from the door and knelt down in front of her and picked up the pads and took her left hand in his and started cleaning her knuckles. "You're the only one who hasn't murdered anybody in the pit. You're the only one who has walked out of that pit that can actually help the feds build a case and not go to jail because of it."

Alex sat there as he cleaned her left hand up and watched him spread the ointment on her knuckles and put bandages over them. She watched as Ranger started cleaning her right hand. He wasn't saying anything else. Alex sat thinking not paying attention as Ranger took the box off her lap and then pulled up the other chair in the room and sit down in it. He sat studying her. He could see her eyes were unfocused on anything in the room, she was lost serious thought.

"I won't do it." Alex turned and looked back at him. "Shiropolli will have me killed. I don't feel like dying."


	3. Chapter 3

Alex turned her head away from looking at Ranger. She was tired, tired of fighting to stay alive, tired from running to try and get where she needed. Now she was tired of where this conversation was leading. Her mind reeled from what she had been going through over the last two weeks. There was no way she was going to talk to the FBI. Shiropolli wouldn't let her live, the FBI might not be afraid of what the man could do, but Alex had seen what his henchmen could do when they received an order that he wanted followed.

Ranger watched her as she looked away. He knew she was a smart kid, but he also knew the FBI wanted her more than she realized. "If you don't talk to them they'll have you thrown in prison, you did violate your bond agreement by not showing up at your last probation meeting."

"Wasn't my fault." She turned her head and glared at him with her dark blue eyes. "I was busy, in case you didn't notice, I couldn't squeeze it in my appointment book."

"They are still going to lock you up." Ranger told her, he leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees his hands relaxing in the space between them. "You don't have many choices, you can talk to the feds or keep you mouth shut. Either one isn't real positive here, both have bad consequences to them."

"Either way I'm screwed. Go to jail and try to stay alive or talk to the feds and try to stay alive."

"The feds could relocate you, give you clean record."

Alex sat up when she heard the front door to the school open up. Ranger stood and moved to the office door.

"Alex!"

Alex jumped up and headed for the door, "James, I'm in the office." She reached for the door knob and Ranger pushed her hand away. She looked up at him, "Jerk, it's just James."

The door came open and James looked from Ranger to Alex and then back to Ranger. "What did you do to her?"

Alex wanted to grin, James thought Ranger did all the bruising. Fine with her, she needed a way out of this, a way to get somewhere away from Ranger so she could think. She had to make up her mind, to figure out what she was going to do.

"I didn't do anything to her. I told you before she was in violation of her bond agreement." Ranger told James.

James moved into the office he looked at Alex and then back over to Ranger. "If she's in violation of her agreement, why isn't she at the police station. What are you doing here?"

Alex watched as James was trying to crowd Ranger, James didn't back down to anyone. James was an alpha male, Alex knew the types. When alpha males get together things exploded. Alex saw how much room she had and moved back towards the wall. Ranger glanced at Alex and then back to James.

"I came in to get my FTA after I saw her come inside." Ranger told James as he stepped closer into his personal space. "You need to back off."

James didn't budge or back down, "I'm not backing off, what do you plan on doing with her?"

"She has to go back into the system. They won't let her get bonded back out, she'll have to sit some time out, unless she talks to the feds." Ranger told James. He knew James cared about this kid, his behavior said so, it was a possessive quality that he himself had over the people he cared about.

James' brow furrowed, "Why do the feds want her?"

Alex had stepped on her each of her feet while they were talking and slipped off the socks. She knew if she tried running in the socks again she was going to be falling flat on her face. Alex moved quickly and pushed James into Ranger and dove out the door. Running flat out she headed for the back of the school and pushed open the fire door setting off the alarm. Ranger felt the weight of James falling into him pushing him into the corner of the desk jabbing into his back. James had grabbed his arms and both of them went crashing onto the floor as the alarms rang out in the building. Alex didn't go through the door, she turned and went inside the ladies dressing room, jumped onto the chair by the lockers and climbed up on the lockers and lifted the paneling out of the ceiling and climbed up inside. She grasped the piping up in the ceiling with her legs locking them in place, then leaned back down and replaced the panel she had pushed aside as she heard footsteps outside the door to the dressing room.

Ranger pushed through the door at the back and looked around the lot. He didn't see Alex anywhere in sight. James came out a second after him. "Where did she go?" James asked.

Ranger looked at him, "Damn that kid." Ranger couldn't help the grin that surfaced on his face. "She's good at being the wind."

James looked at Ranger, "She's not going to come in with you until she's ready. What happened to Miss Plum?"

"She's at home, she'll probably be around. If Alex comes back, talk her into giving herself to either me or Miss Plum. Her life expectancy would be better off she did."

James watched as Ranger went back inside through his school. "What did Alex get herself involved in? She knows to keep her nose out of shit, she's not a stupid kid."

"Her mother got her involved with Shiropolli." Ranger threw out over his back as he was leaving.

James went to the front of the school and watched Ranger as he went around the Uhaul then he saw the sleek black car drive out of the lot. "Damn it!" He opened the door to his office and righted one of the chairs that had fallen over and picked up the socks off the floor. "Fucking Shit!" He had tried talking Alex into moving in with him six months ago. The kid needed a stable place to sleep. He knew her mother was a crack head who liked to gamble. Her mother wasn't allowed in his school. He didn't allow anyone who was on drugs inside his school. They all knew it, his school was one place that was considered safe. He had a few gang members in his school, but he wouldn't take their shit when they came in. He walked out of the office and headed back towards the changing rooms, back towards where all the stench was coming from.

Alex kept her breathing even and listened. She could hear footsteps coming back to this way.

"Fuck!" she heard James say.

Alex slowly let out her breath and then went for the ceiling tile and lifted it back up and slid it to the side again. Grabbing onto the pipe she lowered her lower body down and out of it onto the lockers. James was watching at the door as he saw Alex come back into the school from the ceiling. Her face finally came into view, his eyes bore daggers into her. "None of this would have happened if you would have just moved in with me when I asked you."

Alex reached up and replaced the tile, "It wouldn't work and you know it." Alex jumped down from the lockers on all fours and stood up. "We are too different James. You don't understand me, I'm not what you need. Christ you're old enough to be my old man."

James moved into the room, his brow furrowed, he couldn't help the way he felt about this kid. He had fallen in love with her a year ago. "I told you I would wait until you are eighteen. I wouldn't force you into anything you didn't want."

"Then quit pushing the subject. It's not happening." Alex set her jaw as James reached out and touched the bruise on her left cheek.

"What did Shiropolli want with you?" James asked.

Alex moved away from his touch. "I was forced to pay off her debt. My mother sold me out to him."

"Did they rape you?"

"Christ no!" Alex moved around him and picked up the duffle bag off the floor and emptied it. "I had that choice and I didn't choose that, I chose to go into the pit and fight instead." She let the karate fighting gear fall to the floor and then went back to the lockers and opened hers up. She started shoving what little bit of clothing was inside it.

"So the feds want you to roll over on Shiropolli?" James asked and went over to the lockers and leaned up against them.

Alex finished stuffing the clothes inside. "More or less. That isn't happening either, it's not an option. Shiropolli will have me killed if I talk to them." She zipped the bag and looked up at James. She liked him, but not in the way he liked her. She liked James because he didn't take shit off of people, she liked the way he stuck up for the underdog, she liked he fact that he really liked teaching people how to take care of themselves. She learned more from him in the last seven years than she had from living in the hell hole with her mother one street from Slayerland. "I need the money you're holding for me. I need some time to think and the money will at least afford me some thinking time. I need to call my probation officer and find out what the courts are going to do."

"They'll lock you up. You know that." James told her. He pushed off from the lockers and looked at her bare feet. "You need shoes."

Alex looked down at her feet, "I get money and I'll get shoes, I'm not putting on the others. You need to toss that bag in the hall, I think I waded through a water full of shit when I ran off after I got away from Shiropolli."

James shook his head, he wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake the shit out of her. "You need to see a doctor," he pointed to her hands and face, "get looked at and get a shot. The last thing you need is to get sick or an infection." He walked out of the dressing room and Alex followed him.

James wasn't bad looking, but he wasn't all that good looking either, Alex thought his nose was too big. It had been broken several times owing to the fact that the scar tissue increased its size. She stopped in the doorway of the office as James sat down behind the desk and opened the drawers. He pulled out the lock box and counted out a thousand dollars and laid it on the corner of the desk. Alex reached out and took the money. He placed the lockbox back and pulled out the cell phone. He tossed it to her.

"The battery is charged, you'll have to come back for the charger. Keep it on you and call me if you need me." James told her.

Alex caught the phone and then placed it back on the desk. "I can't take the phone. Too many people will try to trace it."

"It's my phone, they won't know you have it." James stated. "Take the phone."

She looked at it and then turned out of the office, she wasn't coming back and she didn't need to have something that belonged to James. "I have to go."

James got out of the chair and caught up to her as she reached the front door. He reached out and grabbed her chin making her look back up at him. "You can come back anytime you want. I'm not going anywhere."

"I won't be back." Alex pushed open the front the door and walked out.

James watched her walk away, he went back to the office and sat down and looked around his desk. He saw the two cards, one for Rangeman the other for Stephanie Plum. He hadn't really liked Ranger, the man didn't feel right to him, Stephanie on the other hand, he felt like he could trust her. He picked up the phone and dialed her number.

Stephanie picked the phone up and looked at the clock six in the morning. "What?" Her mind thinking that it would be either Joe or Ranger calling.

"This is James Spragget, Alex just left the karate school, she's barefoot."

Stephanie sat up in bed and tossed the covers back. "Why is she barefoot? She had shoes the last time I saw her." There wasn't any need to mention the kid didn't have her shirt.

"I think it has to do with smelling like shit. Alex doesn't like stuff like that. I gave her the money I owed her. Knowing her, she'll go shoe shopping and maybe try one of the local clinics, she looks like shit." James hung up the phone.

Stephanie was in the process of pulling on her jeans when James hung up. She punched in Ranger's number.

"Yo."

"Got a phone call, Alex just left the karate school." Stephanie told him.

"I know. She took off while I was there. James got in the way and she bolted as soon as she saw her chance." Ranger told her as he stopped at the corner. He blew out a deep breath.

Stephanie listened to the breath being blown out. She couldn't fathom what that was about, normally Ranger didn't show much emotion and rarely let it come across the phone. "I'm sorry. I never should have asked you to help with this skip."

"Too late Babe." Ranger watched as Trenton started to slowly come awake.

Stephanie's mind started processing things, she knew Ranger wouldn't have dolled out that money even for the feds. "Why did you really pay for Shiropolli to release her?" She sat back down on the bed, not sure if she really wanted the answer to that question. There were things she was still not willing to risk letting out of the dungeon in her mind.

Ranger leaned his head back on the headrest of the seat. "Because you asked me to help you Stephanie."

"Is that the only reason? Because I asked." Her heart was beating faster, she got him to toss out money like it meant nothing to him. He tossed out money on a kid that she didn't want to see get hurt. On a kid that for the last two weeks she had been digging around in the life of. She hated where this kid lived, hated that this kid wasn't really acting like a normal teenager. Not doing the normal teenage things. What frightened her the most was the more she learned about this kid, the more she learned about what made Ranger tick.

"No." The phone went dead on Ranger's end.

Stephanie stared at the phone. She felt like throwing it at the wall. Pulling anything out of Ranger was like pulling teeth. He didn't give up anything without a price. With him she had to jump through hoops, travel down never ending mazes to get just a piece of knowledge about himself.

Ranger hung the phone up. "Not going there yet. Damn it. I'm not ready for that yet." He was angry with himself. Angry with her for even asking the question that he didn't want to deal with. Angry with a fifteen year old kid who came into his life who reminded him so much of himself. "Damn it, Babe, you don't understand." Ranger pulled away from the curb and headed back to Rangeman headquarters.


	4. Chapter 4

Morelli sat in the back of the briefing room at the station. He was early as he sipped on the hot cup of coffee in his hands. Several other uniforms where around the donut box at the table in front of him.

"I heard she didn't come in last week for her last probation meeting. I knew that little bitch wouldn't go through with it." Gaspick told other two uniforms.

One of the officer's shook his head. "But…wouldn't you think that maybe something went wrong? She did have a year of parole and she's been to all the others."

Gaspick gave a bark of laughter, "Any little bitch that comes from where she does is no good. No follow thru. Probably got in a fight and didn't want to show up. She comes in with bruises sometimes and claims it's from fight nights at the karate school. They are so geared up you can't have that many bruises."

Morelli glared at Gaspick from behind. Gazarra walked in and patted Morelli on the back and took a seat next to him. Morelli gave Gazarra a nod. Gazarra took a drink of coffee and glanced at Morelli and looked at Gaspick.

"It is a contact sport though, you can't expect her not to have bruises at times." The officer said.

"You on Ramono's case again, Gaspick?" Gazarra asked.

Gaspick turned around. "Little bitch didn't show up, warrant is being issued today."

"So you going to haul her in?" Gazarra asked.

"Damn straight I am. Her bond gets revoked at midnight." He looked at Morelli, "Guess your girlfriend isn't so good after all."

Morelli sipped his coffee, the little dick wasn't worth it.

Gazarra watched Joe, he knew Joe would respond if he wanted. "My cousin-in-law is better than you are any day of the week."

Gaspick turned to look at Gazarra, "If she is so good, why doesn't she have her in custody yet?"

"Thing come up GasPrick." Gazarra said the officer's name for him, "Word on the street has been her mama got in a world of hurt with Shiropolli. I don't think Ramono would be worried about a little thing like a warrant at the moment."

Gaspick came out of his seat and placed both hands down hard on the table on the table Joe and Eddie were sitting at. "It's Gaspick, and that's no excuse for missing a parole meeting."

"Sit Down!" Joe growled out. "Eddie has the measure of that girl better than you do."

"You are all fucking nuts. She broke my arm, she'll kill a cop next. That little bitch is bad news." Gaspick glared at Joe but sat back down as the room started filling in with more uniforms.

Joe gave out a bark of laughter. "In your dreams she might do that."

"Yeah, like you fucking know her." Gaspick threw back at him.

"Better than you," Joe stood up and leaned over the table, "You touch that girl and fuck up my case with Shiropolli and have your balls nailed to the wall. The feds will chew you up and spit you out. Don't fuck with this girl." Joe felt his shirt being tugged and turned around to see his chief.

"I need to talk with you."

Joe threw his leg of the chair he was straddling and moved off with his chief outside the briefing room.

"How deep is she in?" The chief asked.

"So deep she couldn't show for her probation appointment. The kid needs a break, and with Wyatt Erp in there she won't get it. At least with him having the judge in his bed."

The chief glanced at Morelli, "Now we can't blame the judge for her taste in men." The chief smiled at Morelli's groan. "Seriously, this judge is hard on all the kids that are even near Comstock Street. I agree with some of her views, not all of her decisions. The kid was given a fair shake on this though."

"She didn't miss that meeting because she didn't want to go." Joe told him. He played his cards close to his chest, but he didn't want to spell out just how deep Alex was involved in this whole mess. He wanted to talk to Alex so he could learn more.

"Morelli!"

Joe looked up and saw the feds coming his way. "Time to play with the big boys." Joe walked away from his chief and went to meet the white nights on his chess board of justice.

Alex was sitting in the waiting room of the small clinic on Desmond, not to far from her home about six blocks over. There was a shoe store across the street but it wasn't open this early and the clinic was.

"Alex Ramono!" The nurse called out while she was reading from the clipboard.

Alex stood up and walked over towards the nurse with her duffle bag in hand. The nurse looked her over up and down. "Come on back, looks like your old man did a number on you."

"It sure wasn't pleasant." Alex droned out, not bothering with changing the story the nurse was creating for her.

"You leave so fast you didn't bother with shoes?" The nurse pointed down to Alex's bare feet.

Alex gave a shrug in response.

"Honey, you probably ain't gonna have any clothes when you get back."

"Not gonna go back."

The nurse opened the door to the exam rooms and pulled the curtain on room one. She changed into the normal sterile hospital garb the nursed gave her and hopped up on the flat bed. Alex stretched out and closed her eyes while she waited for the doctor. Alex woke when her right arm was being lifted and she felt the cold vinyl of the blood pressure cuff being placed around her arm.

"What in the world did he beat you with?" The doctor asked.

"Anything the bastard got his hands on."

The doctor shook his head, he had cases like this every day. And every day they seemed to get younger and younger coming in this clinic messed up this way. He finished checking her vitals and started going over her body, shaking his head at all the bruises.

"Sure hope you are pressing charges on that bastard." The nurse said.

"That was next on my list of things to do after I get some shoes." Alex lied smoothly.

The doctor looked up at the nurse, "Why don't you call this in and we can save her a little bit of time."

Alex jerked her head up looking at the nurse, "I can do it myself once I get some shoes."

The hand on her upper chest pushed back gently for her to lay back down. "It will be better if we get a police officer in her now. Besides, you are under eighteen and I have to report this in." He was now checking her side and pain shot through Alex.

"Son of Bitch! That hurts!"

"Possibly broken, if not broken you are bound to have at least a few of them bruised." He nodded to the nurse who walked out from the curtained room.

Alex sat up. "Look, you can't call the cops. It wasn't a fucking boyfriend, or my old man or any other shit. Just tell me what the fuck is wrong and I'll pay you your damn money and leave."

He stood back for a minute, looking at the kid on the table. "Are you gang banging?"

"Yeah, that's it." Alex glared at him, "I wasn't raped. Just tell me what I need to know."

"I won't know for sure without x-rays."

"I don't have time for x-rays." Alex stated as she slid off the bed and grabbed the clothes by the gurney. "I also had to wade through sewage," she turned towards him as she started slipping on her gi bottoms, "Look, just write out what I need for the pain in my ribs and some antibiotic."

"I can't do that." The doctor told her and came around the bed. "Stop that and get back up on the bed. I haven't finished examining you."

"You're finished." Alex stated as she tied off the gi ties. "Consultation is over."

Alex pulled out a hundred dollar bill from the bills and laid it on the bed. The doctor looked at the bill on the bed. He looked back up at her as she was pulling off the gown facing away from him and pulling the shirt over her head. He groaned at seeing how bruised the kid really was.

"How much trouble are you in?" He asked against his better judgment and reached for a prescription pad.

"I'm treading water, but the sharks are getting closer." She turned back around and picked up the duffle bag. She watched as he scrawled out on the pad. He tore it off and handed it to her.

"You probably have about five minutes before the police show up." He said as Alex took the prescription.

"It was pleasure doing business with you." Alex pulled the curtain back and walked out. The nurse started after her and the doctor held her back. Alex paused at the door and looked back them. "I wished you really wouldn't have called the cops."

Stephanie was driving close to slayerland, she told Ranger she wouldn't go inside, so skirting the outskirts of the place she felt at least relatively safe. She was looking for any clinics that were close to the place. She had already found two and no one had seen Alex or anyone that had even looked like her there this morning. She stopped at the light and took a drink of the coffee she had purchased earlier. A black and white sped past her and through the red light while she sat in her Mini Cooper.

Alex took off at a run once outside the clinic. She looked longingly at the shoe store, but figured she couldn't hang around. Even with feet hurting she kept plodding on, with death hanging over her head it gave her the motivation she needed to keep pushing herself to her limit. She had just slipped in the fence on the side of the road she was on when she saw the police cruiser fly by. Alex slid down the fence as she looked at the prescription. She grinned at the piece of paper. Now she just had to get it filled. Sticking her head back towards the gap she saw the cruiser coming back down the road at a slow pace. She moved her head back in and took deep breaths to calm her pulse rate down to a low roar in her ears. She heard the car drive on slowly by and then looked out again, the only other car she saw was a Mini Cooper coming down the road, the cruiser having turned off on an off street.

Stephanie slammed on her breaks as she saw the head coming through the fence. Putting the car into park she hopped out and took off at a jog to get across the street. Alex stood and saw the women coming. She threw the duffle at her, and spun taking off down the street with Stephanie running after her as she knocked the duffle out of the way. Alex started across the street not bothering look either way. Stephanie slowed only for a bit to make sure no cars were coming and kept after her.

"Stop!" Stephanie told her getting winded with short sprint already.

Alex looked back and then turned her face forward again, she saw the dumpster and planting her hands firmly on the hold outside of the sliding door she pulled herself up and then scrambled up on top of it. She looked over the edge and over the fence it was sitting next to, she judged the jump and missed the few concrete blocks sitting on the ground. Stephanie was scrambling up the dumpster and was on top when she saw Alex was half way across the back yard of some storage lot. She jumped down without looking.

Alex heard the thud, and crack. She turned to look back while still running and then stopped. "Shit!"

She saw the women laying flat on her back and her head over the concrete slabs. Alex walked back over to her and bent down and moved Stephanie's head. She saw the blood coming out from the back of her hair.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid. Someone needs to tell you to look before you leap. It adds to your life expectancy at least by two percent from dumb shit like this." Alex told her as Stephanie was groaning and reaching for her head. Alex stopped her hand from going to her head. "Don't! You're going to get shit all in that wound and I won't be held responsible for this."

Stephanie sat up and felt the world revolving. "Fuck!"

"Yup, that is typically how it feels." Alex got behind Stephanie and put her arms under Stephanie's arm pits and hoisted her to her feet. "Hold still and let me look at the gash on your head."

"Why did you stop?" Stephanie asked her. "I couldn't have caught up to you."

Alex moved Stephanie's hair away and looked at the gash, "You're going to have to get stitches, this wound is too deep, and you'll have one hell of a headache." Alex ignored the question, she wasn't about to explain why she stopped. "Come on, there is a clinic only two blocks down. I suggest you don't tell them your old man did this. They get touchy and call the cops."

Stephanie turned around and had to grasp onto Alex's arm to keep the world still. "Answer my question."

Alex furrowed her brows and frowned at her. It wasn't easy to explain. "I wanted to make sure you didn't kill yourself and I got blamed for it." Alex grabbed Stephanie by her arm and looked for a gate. She saw one and started heading them both to it. "It wouldn't sit right with my ethics." She wrenched open the gate and led Stephanie through it after she made sure no cop cars where circling the street they were on.

Stephanie groaned, _ethics, moral codes, some measure of right and wrong I haven't even figured out how to get._ She looked over at Alex, the kid was shorter than her, smaller than she was, and more Italian. She looked at Alex's black hair that was pulled back in a pony tail that hung down the middle of her back. The kid's complexion was richly tan and her dark blue eyes bore bullets in them when she glanced at Stephanie. "I'm really not very good at my job if my FTA is escorting me to a clinic."

Alex gave a hearty guffaw. "You need to get in better shape and look before you jump down on the other side of things."

"I saw you do it and thought it was safe."

Alex threw her a perplexed look, "Did you see Ranger jump down that embankment and chase me through raw sewage? He looked but he didn't leap." They reached the door of the clinic. "He's already seen me today, seeing me twice would probably go to his head. I'll go get your car and bring it around."

"You're going to take off on me aren't you?"

"You have no faith in your fellow man. I just walked you to a clinic so you can get stitches in your head and now you think I'm gonna snitch the car. Get inside!" Alex spun around and started jogging back to get the car and her stuff.

Stephanie shook her head and went inside the clinic. Alex picked up her duffle and went to the Cooper, she slid behind the wheel and put the car in gear and drove it around to the clinic. Getting out she walked across the street and walked inside the shoe store that was just opening up. She picked up a pack of socks and grabbed the first pair of sneakers that were her size. Paid for them, put them on and then walked across the street, she opened the clinic door and looked in, Stephanie wasn't in the waiting room. The same nurse from earlier looked up at her.

"Where's the head case that came in? She going to be alright?"

"Doctor is sewing her up right now. Her old man do that too?" The nurse asked.

"Nope, fell and hit a brick, I walked her here."

The nurse looked down at her feet, "Got your shoes I see."

"Yup, I'll call the cops when I get back to my place." Alex pulled the keys out of her pocket, "The woman's keys to her car are right here."

"You're letting all the air out, get in here and just go give them to her yourself, she's in room two." The nurse said then called out the next name on the list.

Alex came in and passed the nurse and said, "Bless you, you did your good deed for the day. St. Peter marked it on the books."

The nurse made the sign of the cross. "We had to call. It wasn't our fault."

"Yeah well, this time let me get out of the place before you call again." Alex moved over to curtain number two and pushed her way in.

The doctor looked up, "What didn't like the prescriptions I wrote?"

"Those were fine. Just came to give her, her car keys back." She handed them to Stephanie.

Stephanie took them and grabbed onto Alex's wrist, "He said I have a concussion and can't drive home."

"Imagine that," Alex said smarmily.

"I won't turn you over today if you can just get me home. I don't feel like calling Ranger and explaining how I botched up catching his hundred grand dollar girl."

Alex looked at the doctor. She didn't know what he was thinking about this conversation but she saw his eyebrow raise up to the top of his head. "You still need an x-ray."

"I'll tape my ribs, not much you can do even if they may be broken." Alex told him.

He shrugged at her and then tied off the last stitch on Stephanie's head. "Suit yourself, she doesn't need to go to sleep for twenty four hours, she had four stitches in her head. Don't give her any pain medication other than normal over the counter until we know she can stay awake."

He turned and stripped the gloves off his hand and then wrote out a prescription for Stephanie. Alex pulled the bills out and peeled off another hundred and handed it to him.

"Come on wonder woman, let's get you home." Alex said and started walking out of the clinic with Stephanie trailing along behind her.

Stephanie watched as Alex drove her to her place after she gave the kid directions. Alex didn't talk while she was driving. _Another one of those Ranger qualities._ When they got to the lot Alex put the car in park. "You trust me to go get these filled?" Alex asked waving the prescriptions in front of her.

"Only if you tell me why you really came back for me?" Stephanie asked.

"You were five blocks from Slayerland. If any one of them would have came back there, they would have taken advantage of you. Look at you," Alex waved her hand up and down indicating Stephanie, "you don't belong over there. You were over there because you were after me. I don't want anything to happen to you because of me, it would eat at me. I don't take shit from them and they know it, they know me, they don't know you, they would eat you alive and not give a damn about it. I don't play by their rules, I bend them to suite my own means when I find reason I have to do it. Anything else?"

Stephanie couldn't help but feel she just got a dressing down by a grown up and not a kid. "Not at the moment, but I owe you for paying for the stitches."

"Then let me get these filled and I'll let you feed me."

Stephanie gave a nod of consent and got out of the car and made her way into the building. Alex drove to the nearest drug store and asked them to put a rush on the prescriptions and was granted it for once in her life. She was pretty sure the pharmacist didn't want her collapsing in his store, it wouldn't be good for business. She hurried back to Stephanie's apartments and took the stairs up to the second floor and was banging at Stephanie's door.

Stephanie opened the door and Alex walked in passed her and handed her the bag that was hers. "I haven't got much, I haven't made it to the store."

Alex shook her head. "What have you got?"

"Peanut butter and bread."

"Sounds like a feast to me at the moment. I'll take it." Alex went over to the chair and flopped down in it and laid her head back, this was the most comfortable she had been in two weeks. Minus the short ten minute nap at the clinic.

Stephanie made the sandwiches and got a beer from the fridge for herself and a bottle of water for Alex. She felt inadequate, she couldn't even offer the kid a coke. She put the plate down on the coffee table and sat down on the couch. Alex reached out and grabbed one of the sandwiches and ate it, she opened the pill bottles from her bag and downed both of them along with the whole bottle of water.

"You want another one?"

"I'm fine. No thank you."

Stephanie sat back looking at the kid, she had FTA's in her apartment before. This was the first time she had one in her apartment that actually didn't try to kill her. The silence stretched between them. Stephanie couldn't help but have question after question floating around in her head. "I take it, you aren't ready to be brought in yet."

"Correct."

One word answer. What was with the one word answers? Doesn't anyone like to elaborate and give me more. No one seemed to be wanting to share. Stephanie thought.

"Why?"

Alex opened her eyes and looked at Stephanie, "That should be obvious." She leaned back and closed her eyes again, "You know the TV will probably give you more company than me. It'll help you stay awake."

"Aren't you afraid if you fall asleep I'll call someone?"

Alex reached inside her pocket and pulled out the cell phone's chip. "Your phone doesn't work at the moment. And I'll hear you if you open the door, I'm a light sleeper."

Stephanie looked incredulously at the chip in her hand. They think of everything, this would be classic Ranger. "Are you always one step ahead?"

"Turn on the TV. I'm through playing." Alex put the phone chip back in her pocket.


	5. Chapter 5

Stephanie turned on the TV. She only half concentrated on the TV she was looking at the teenager reclining back in the chair. Stephanie could see the deep bruises on the Alex's left side of her face. _Something has to give with this girl, she needs a better life than this._ Stephanie got up and went inside her kitchen, she opened the freezer of her icebox and started breaking the trays to get the ice out. Once she had all of them emptied she went to her cabinet and pulled out the freezer bags made two ice packs one for herself and the other for Alex. _These urges you have, your heart pulling towards this kid. You don't even have these urges with your own nieces. This headache is getting bad, I can't just let the both of us stay like this today. Alex needs sleep and I need to stay awake. But the little shit has my chip for my cell phone._ Stephanie looked over at the clock on the wall in her kitchen. It was almost nine in the morning now. She hadn't checked in with the office. Something she always did at least by ten in the morning. Maybe Connie or Lula would check on her once she wasn't returning phone calls. She figured she would have at least two maybe three hours before someone would start to wonder about why she hadn't shown up for work. Stephanie walked with the ice packs into the living room and placed one on Alex's left eye and cheek. Alex's hand had come up and grabbed her wrist quickly.

"You need the ice just as much as I do. If not more." Stephanie told her, lacing it with a little concern.

Alex's eyes opened up and looked up at the women. "Thank you, but don't invade my space again."

Alex let go of Stephanie's hand. _Yeash! This kid has problems._ "I wasn't hurting you," Stephanie said as she moved back over to the couch. "You said I had a trust problem and no faith in my fellow man, what about yourself?"

"I can't afford to have any trust in anyone at the moment." Alex stated and shut her eyes again as her hand came up to keep the ice pack in place.

"I haven't taken you in."

"Maybe not today, but you will eventually." Alex adjusted her position in the chair and winced at the shot of pain in her ribs.

Stephanie watched her, "You would probably be more comfortable laying on the couch."

"No, can't see the door properly."

Stephanie gave a snort, "Your eyes are closed."

"I have ears as well."

Stephanie let it drop and got up to go get something for her headache, she rummaged through the medicine cabinet and took two Advil. She stood in the bathroom looking at herself in the mirror. _Not doing good here. I need to get in touch with Ranger. No cell phone though. Email! The computer is on the table. Just check the email and send him a message._ Stephanie grinned at her reflection in the mirror. Leaving the bathroom she went back towards the kitchen and picked up her other FTA files. _Just pretend to be doing research. Take a deep breath, you can do this without her getting suspicious of anything._ Stephanie sat down at the table and opened the lap top up. She opened the files, and booted up the computer and looked over at Alex. Alex was still in the same position. Her breathing looked deep, relaxed. Stephanie wondered how long before the pain medication would kick in with the kid. Stephanie went ahead and pulled up PBUS and entered one of the skips in and had the research program going so she could flip applications easily. Stephanie pulled up her yahoo instant message program to see if Ranger might actually be online.

Ranger was sitting at his computer, he just went through all of the email he had when he saw the box message come up on his screen from Stephanie. It read: Got the girl. At home, need help. I have a concussion and four stitches in my head.

Ranger pulled out his phone and dialed Tank. "Get to Steph's place. Don't go in. Alex is at Steph's. I want the place surrounded. I'm not loosing that kid again." He hung up.

Ranger then typed a reply back, it read: On my way. Act normal, and don't do anything that will make her run.

He then closed the program and headed out of his office. He would get answers about the concussion and stitches later. No telling what she did to get those. It took him fifteen minutes to make it to Stephanie's apartment building. Tank was at the front door. "All in place."

Ranger nodded to him and took the stairs up to the second floor. He put his hand on the door knob and turned it slowly. He wondered briefly if Stephanie set any of the locks in place. He hoped she hadn't.

Alex was half dozing when she heard the door lock being released. She bolted up out of the chair and looked at Stephanie and back to the door as she saw Ranger coming through it.

"Fuck!" Alex jumped the coffee table and Ranger was already heading in the direction she was running. Alex had just made it into the bedroom and stopped short as she saw another man outside the bedroom window on the fire escape. Ranger wrapped her in a bear hug from behind. Pain sharp and intense swept through Alex and the next thing she saw was only black.

Ranger wasn't expecting Alex to go totally limp in his arms. He moved one of his arms so he was scooping her up under her legs. He turned and saw Stephanie in the doorway of her bedroom. Bobbie had seen Ranger pick up Alex through the window and started down the fire escape.

"What happened?" Stephanie asked.

"Passed out!" Ranger told her as he moved with Alex through the door and took her over to the couch. He laid her on the couch. Ranger turned to look at Stephanie, "Where are the stitches?"

Stephanie walked over to him and turned around and lifted her hair up just over the goose egg knot on her head. Ranger was looking at her stitches when the apartment door was opened and Tank, Lester, Bobbie and Hal walked in. All four pair of eyes traveled to the couch and then back to Ranger and Stephanie.

"What happened?" Lester asked.

"Passed out." Ranger answered. He put Stephanie's hair back down and then placing his hand on her shoulder he turned Stephanie back to face him. "How did that happen?"

"I was chasing after her. She went over a dumpster and jumped on the other side and I went after her and then messed everything up and hit my head." Stephanie felt real embarrassed.

"Then?" Ranger asked.

"Then she came back and walked me to a clinic, paid to have my head sewn back together, drove me home, picked up the medication and came back and was on the chair half asleep."

Alex was groaning as her breathing was coming in short sharp breaths. The pain was radiating and throbbing in her ribs on her left side.

Tank moved to the couch at Ranger's nod, he shifted Alex in a half sitting position and sat down and pulled the kid back up so she was leaning on his chest.

"Shit, shit, shit." Alex got out between breaths. Her muscles were stiffening up for lack of over use and the pain in them.

"The doctor thinks her ribs might be broken." Stephanie told them.

Ranger pointed to the chair, "Go sit down, Babe."

Ranger walked around the coffee table and noticed the medication bottles and picked them up and read them. He shook his head and put them back down, "Has she taken anything?"

"Both, just the one time though and that was about an hour ago now." Stephanie answered him.

Lester and Bobbie were off to the side talking. "I really like this kid," Bobbie told Lester.

"Oh yeah, earned points big time with Ranger, did you see his face when Steph told him about her coming back for her."

"Kid's got style." Bobbie grinned after he said it.

Ranger sat on the coffee table and looked at Alex leaning up against Tank. _She went back after Stephanie, she's got ethics and a moral code. What am I going to do with this kid? She is in no condition to go in like this. _He rubbed his forehead, _not an easy call. The feds will put her through questions after questions. She can't hold up under that. I take her back in now and they'll eat her alive while she's locked up. If I keep her I'm harboring a fugitive. _Ranger stood up and started pacing the room.

Tank was watching Ranger, he looked back down at Alex who was leaning on his chest, her short breaths still coming. He could see the see the tears starting to flow down her down her bruised cheeks. He looked back up at Ranger. "She can't be taken in like this." Tank said.

Lester looked from Tank to Ranger, "We'll be harboring a fugitive."

"We've never paid for an FTA before though." Bobbie put in.

"I already told her I wouldn't take her in today." Stephanie said.

Ranger looked at Stephanie, "So she doesn't go in today, Babe. What about tomorrow or the next day, the next week, hell even next month."

Stephanie looked at Ranger. _Where is he going with this? Is he actually contemplating on keeping her? He has his own kid, what the hell is he thinking? _"She has to go back in sometime."

Ranger looked at Alex. "Not with Shiropolli still out there."

Stephanie stood up, "This is crazy Ranger. She doesn't belong to you. She's not your blood, there's a difference. If this was Julie then there's a difference."

"This has nothing to do with her belonging to me. You didn't shell out a hundred grand to get her away from Shiropolli."

Stephanie glared at him, "You did it because the FBI will pay you back."

Stephanie watched and Ranger turned and walked away from her. Everyone in the room was watching Ranger except one.

Alex was listening to what was being said. She didn't need another alpha male in her life, she just ditched one. James would be easier to deal with, this one wouldn't. She knew Ranger wouldn't be easy to deal with. _I won't talk to the feds,_ Alex thought she had to think about what to do. This was her life and she wouldn't let anyone run it but herself. _They take me in and I do my time before trial. Or I can see if I can get rebonded back out and pre-trial probation again. Either way I still have to go back._

"I did it because that kid is me when I was her age, Babe." Ranger spun around. "My father was a gang member just as much as hers was. You don't know what it is like Stephanie to grow up most of your life without a father, grow up not having the protection and guidance of a father in your life. I had to look to my older brother to help guide me. The only difference is I had someone I could at least look up to and she doesn't."

Stephanie sat back down. He never talked about his family, very little. She never knew what had happened to his father. Stephanie looked over at Alex, "What are you saying Ranger?"

"I'm not throwing her over to the FBI as a sacrificial lamb just for their fucking case. It'll get her killed. Shiropolli will have her killed if she goes back to jail and the feds get a hold of her." Ranger told her.

"What about having her rebonded?" Tank asked. "Get a judge to reissue the bond and get her back out and into protective custody."

"How about we get Gaspick to just drop the charges totally." Lester threw in.

"That would solve a lot of problems." Bobbie said.

"He won't do it." Alex hissed out. "The guy fucking hates me."

Ranger looked over at her. His mind working. _Gaspick drops the charges and everything goes away but for Shiropolli. The FBI is a totally separate issue. Think, there has got to be a way to keep this kid out of jail._ Ranger began pacing again.

"When is her bond up, Babe?"

"Today."

"So I have to go in today?" Alex asked.

"Let me think." Ranger said as he looked at her. _Her bond is forfeited at midnight, she won't have a warrant issued for at least a week. Not possible to have one faster. She missed her probation meeting only a week ago, but she has a damn good excuse for missing it. Her probation officer, her probation officer._ Ranger got a grin on his face.

He tossed Tank his phone, "Get Jamie Moore on the phone."

Tank dialed the number.

"But I missed my meeting." Alex stated. "I have a bond out now."

"But you have an excuse for missing it. Moore isn't going to throw you in the court system for missing one meeting." Ranger told her, he was almost sure of it.

Tank started talking to Jamie when he answered, "Mr. Moore, Alex Ramono would like to talk to you today if you can work it into your appointment book."

"Who is this? I haven't been able to get in touch with her for a couple of weeks now."

"This is Larry Baker, I'm with Alex right now. What would be a good time to come see you?" Tank asked, he looked at Ranger, he had a pretty good idea what Ranger was thinking. They had to stop the warrant from coming into being.

"I had an appointment with the DA this afternoon concerning her. If you can see she gets here by three pm. I'll see about changing my appointment with the DA after I talk to her." Jamie said.

"She'll be there." Tank hung up the phone. "We have till three this after noon."

Alex sat fully up and moved away from Tank and let out a low slow exhale as the pain hit her ribs again. Ranger watched her, "She needs to see a doctor."

Tank nodded.

"I already saw one, I just need to tape my ribs." Alex stood up and grabbed the bag from the drug store that was on the table. "If they are broke it won't be the first time."

"You still need to see a doctor." Ranger told her.

Alex glared at him. "Been there done that, what do you think that shit is for?" Alex pointed to the prescription bottles.

Lester was trying to hold back the grin he had on his face. Bobbie had turned around and was coughing in order to cover up his laughter. Tank just shook his head.

_Damn it! She's entertaining my men already and at my expense. _"Where did you get the money to see a doctor?" Ranger asked her.

"Spragget gave it to her." Stephanie told him, "he told me on the phone when he called me."

Ranger looked at Stephanie, "Spragget gave her money? She had already left. You called me but not ten minutes later after I left the school."

"I never left the school." Alex told him. She walked around the table and started heading towards the bathroom. "I went up inside the ceiling, I didn't run outside with no shoes on you big dominate egotistical alpha male dickwad." _I'm not being manipulated by some self serving jerk-off who wants to dominate me into being his sick whatever just because he paid to have me released from Shiropolli._

Stephanie drew in a breath, this kid was going to get herself killed, she had a death wish. She could see the sparks of anger in Ranger's eyes as they went dark. _Ranger is going to kill her!_ Stephanie made to get up out of the chair, Ranger pointed to her, "Stay!"

_She's making me look like a complete idiot in front of my men. If we were alone I would be laughing, but did she have to get it so damn right? _Ranger moved towards her and followed her to the bathroom and slammed the door behind them. He didn't even want to see the looks on his men's faces.

"You couldn't keep your mouth shut long enough until we were alone, you just had to make me look bad in front of my men." Ranger hissed out at her in a lowered voice.

"You're in my space, and I think I'm old enough to go to the damn bathroom alone." Alex hissed back as she glared at him.

"To the bathroom yes, but not to tape your ribs." He smarmily told her as he took the bag from her hand. He pulled the tape out and pointed to the toilet. "Sit down!" He commanded.

Alex looked around the room and then proceeded to hop up on the sink and glared back at him. Ranger lowered his head and started chuckling. "Would you just stop this shit."

"I don't have a clue as to which shit you are referring too." Alex said in a very innocent voice. Ranger looked up quickly at that, Alex was watching him closely.

"You know good and well what shit I'm referring too." Ranger told her as he opened up the medical tape. "Raise your shirt up, so I can tape your ribs."

"What's the magic word?" Alex asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Ranger sat the tape down beside her on the sink and leaned in to where his face was right in front of hers. "I'm not playing that little game."

"I'm not going to be manipulated. I wouldn't let James do it, I'm not about to let you do it, no matter how much fucking money you have and are willing to dish out because your girlfriend asked you too. I don't fucking play that way, you want to control her than so be it. You aren't controlling me, I won't allow it."

Ranger watched as her dark blue eyes grew even darker to the point where they looked black. "She's not my girlfriend and I don't control Stephanie."

Alex gave a bark of laughter, "Stay." She told him and grinned.

Ranger lowered his head. _I did fucking say that didn't I? Damn it! I do control Stephanie, _he looked back up at her. "Quit making me second guess myself. So she obeyed for once in her life, but I don't really control her."

"Could have fooled me." Alex told him.

Ranger picked up the tape and started rolling it out. "Are we through now? You do need your ribs taped up." He was going to have to watch his step around this kid, she was too damn smart for her own good.

Alex relaxed and lifted the left side of her t-shirt, she watched his eyes as he looked at the dark black and blue of her bruised skin. She looked down as he started taping her ribs. "Looks like you've done this before."

"A few times." Ranger pulled off more tape. "How many times have you been taped up before?"

"A few times."

Ranger gave a bark of laughter. "Don't repeat me."

"Give a straight answer."

"Not in my nature."

"Join the club."

He looked back up at her. "You're going to complicate my life aren't you?"

"Depends on how complicated you want it." Alex lowered her shirt and tilted her head to one side. "You try to make me jump through hoops and it'll get as complicated as I can make it."

"I don't like threats."

Alex pushed him back and got off the sink and looked up at him. "Then considerate it a promise."


	6. Chapter 6

Shiropolli sat down at the breakfast nook and looked out his window at the sweeping lawn. The summer day was starting out nice, but he had a bad feeling about Alex Ramono, he hadn't warned her not to talk. He picked up the newspaper that sat next to the place mat on the table. He opened it up and scanned the headlines. The cook sat down his breakfast plate and the coffee cup. She moved back away from the table. Shiropolli glanced down at his plate looking over the food. Nothing was touching, the cook was learning. He looked back at his paper and gave a nod to the cook. He could hear the exhale of breath that had been held. The curl in his upper lip became more pronounced as he heard the quick shuffling of feet escaping to the freedom of the kitchen.

"What do you want to do about Victoria Ramono?" His henchman said.

"Let's leave little Alex a message." He lowered the corner of the paper. "Make sure she understands not to talk." He looked at his henchman. "I'm sure you can find a suitable way to fulfill that message and make sure it comes across that its from me without everyone knowing."

His henchman gave a nod. "Consider it done. I'll make sure she gets the message." He turned and left the room. He wouldn't mind seeing that kid again, his boss was actually in a good mood. A better mood than he had been in a long time. He exited the house and drove to where the victim was being held and loaded the cargo into the back of the van and ordered two men to come with him. They only needed an hour in the apartment, he grinned at the thought of the kid finding her mother in her own bedroom.

Morelli sat down at the table in the interrogation room with the two suits.

"So he doesn't have her at all?" The dark haired suit asked.

"No, she got away from them after they exited out of the fight house." Joe told them in a droning voice.

"He's not getting his money then. The deal was to have the kid in custody and handed over to us today. No kid, no money." The blonde said.

Joe glanced at the California surfer type hair splaying over the man's eyes. "What if they can bring her in before midnight?"

"Tell him the clock is ticking." The dark one said and stood up, "that is all the time he's getting, all the time we are allowing you to get it through to him just how much we want her."

Joe stood up, "What if she doesn't want to play even if we get her?"

"She'll play," the blonde said, "have no fear of that. She'll play or she'll be locked up until she does. Maybe some time alone will convince her of it."

"Having her locked up won't help. We are talking about a fence who knows how to push buttons in jail as well as he does outside of jail. We aren't talking about some dumb kid who pisses in her pants when threatened." Joe picked up the folder in front of him and pushed his report across the table.

_Dickheads! _Joe thought, _they don't have the measure of this kid yet. Maybe after reading this report they'll think differently._

"Then we'll find something that will make her piss her pants and sing." The blonde stated as he grabbed the file and headed for the door.

"Midnight," the dark one said over his shoulder as both men left.

Joe sat back down. "So much for Ranger getting his money back." He had talked to them over an hour and they wouldn't budge. He didn't like when his chess pieces decided to talk back instead of doing what he wanted them to do. He had hardnose and hardass to deal with. Joe sat the coffee cup back down after he drained it and only the dregs were left in the bottom.

"This is going to be a long fucking day." Joe stated as he got up and tossed the cup in the trashcan. He wanted to talk to that kid. He hoped he would have had the chance last night, he would have been able to get the measure of the kid and decide what to do from there. He didn't like it when his cases involved minors, they made him work that much harder to make sure the minors didn't get hurt in the process. It was better off on him if he just dealt with the coffee dregs of life. With those he always knew what to do with.

Joe walked through the station to get to his desk, the normal level of chatter was down to a dull roar. He sat at his desk and lifted the receiver on his phone and punched the code in to retrieve his messages. He wrote them down and hung back up. He called Stephanie and she didn't pick up.

_I hate getting her damn service! Why doesn't she know how to keep her damn cell phone charged. _His stomach started that slow roll of noxious quivering, he opened the side drawer to his desk and opened the bottle of Maalox and took a swig.

"Call me Cupcake." He said after the tone came ringing in his ear and he replaced the headset on the phone.

"Maybe you ought to see a doctor about that addiction you have to the Maalox." Antoine Lebeau said as he sat down at the desk across from Morelli.

Morelli looked up at the detective, Lebeau had transferred from New Orleans. He had been with them for only a year and had landed the desk in front of his when the last one decided to retire. Morelli had been hearing a lot in the locker room talk about how this smooth Casanova detective was flirting with a few of the female cops. Lebeau was young, no more than twenty-five and Joe was wondering when the chief was going to clamp down on the man's hair. Lebeau had it pulled back into a pony tail. Morelli knew he looked like a Jersey casino pit boss dressed in a suite and tie. Lebeau looked like he just walked off of a GQ cover shoot when he was dressed in one. So the chief had let him slide on his dress, it had something to do with how the women he ever had to talk to turned to mush and couldn't get more that 'uh' out of their mouths.

"A doctor won't help with this addiction." Morelli stated.

Lebeau furrowed his brow while he studied Morelli, "Maybe you need a change in your life. Get a woman who doesn't drive you to an antacid induced high every day."

Morelli chuckled. "She would still find a way of getting me to drink this." He leaned back in his desk. "It's just one of the side effects from falling in love with her."

_What is it about this guy I just like telling him things? He knows more about my family and my life than I know about him in the last year he's been here._ Joe thought.

Antoine snickered. "Man you Italian men take the cake." He reached down and pulled the file out of his drawer. "Maybe you just need a vacation, go catch something strange and then come back." He looked at Morelli. "Either that or just ask her to marry you and get it over with."

"I'm not ready for marriage." Morelli told him. "Why aren't you married?"

"I haven't found someone to fall in love with. I want a lady on the outside and a slut in the bedroom. Every lady I've come across is a prune in the damn bedroom, and the slut I don't want to be seen out in public with. I'm too young to get serious, it'd be stupid for me to give up my bachelorhood."

Morelli shook his head. "Maybe you are setting your standards to high."

"Probably so." Antoine told him, his Cajon French drawl coming out. Even after a year in Jersey he still hadn't lost his slow Cajon French tongue.

"When are you going to lose that accent?" Morelli asked him.

"Never. Right now, I'm exotic in the clubs, I can't lose my edge. Get's in good with the women in this state." He opened the file and shuffled around the pictures of the latest murder victim he was looking into.

Joe glanced at the pictures, the right arm was broken, the bone punctured straight through the skin. His mind went over the scene of Alex's fight last night. He went over the fight in his head. "Whose the victim?"

"Charles Williams, been dead about week. Got the call yesterday, he was found over by the barges. He wasn't a floater, he was dumped off. Gun shot to the back of the head." Lebeau looked up at Morelli. "It was real clean, the only thing that doesn't fall into place is the broken arm." He picked up the picture and tossed it over onto Joe's desk.

Joe picked it up. "Killed there or some place else?"

"There, but no signs of struggle, his arm was broke before he was murdered. He had this shoved under the loose sole in his right shoe." Lebeau picked up the paper that was incased in plastic and tossed it on the desk for Joe to read it.

Joe read the fluid handwriting it read: i'm sorry.

He concentrated on the circle above the I, it wasn't a dot, it was circle. "How do you dot your I's?"

"With a dot. Not a circle."

Joe looked up at him. "He didn't write this."

"No he didn't, a copy went in yesterday morning. The paper has a water mark." Lebeau told him.

Joe held it up to the light, the water mark had TKA. He put it back down with the picture. He looked over at Lebeau. _How much to tell him? There was no way the kid pulled the gun, the broken arm she did that. She even apologized to the guy. _"Any ideas?"

Lebeau pulled out the phone book and opened it to where he had it marked and showed it to Morelli. It was the advertisement to the Trenton Karate Academy. _Damn it! This will lead him to the kid and the kid didn't do it._ "We need to talk, but you didn't get this from me." Joe stood up and started walking, Lebeau followed him, they walked outside the station.

Antoine kept following Morelli, he stopped when Morelli reached the beat up piece of shit unmarked cop car.

"You're sniffing in the right direction. Your stiff is involved in my case, I can't have you going around and talking to the wrong people. Sit on this." Morelli told him.

Antoine crossed his arms. "Does this have anything to do with the kid who hasn't shown up for her probation meeting that Gaspick keeps everyone well aware of?"

"Yes, she broke your stiff's arm. She didn't pull the trigger." Morelli opened the car door and leaned on the frame. "Don't let anyone push you on this case. I have a bigger fish I want to land than the trigger man."

"Fine, but you owe me. I'll sit on it. I want the trigger man." Antoine told him.

"You can have your man. Just leave the kid out of this." Joe told him.

"She's withholding evidence."

Joe shook his head, "No, she apologized for breaking his arm for Christ sake, that is as much as you're getting. She doesn't know who killed him, at least I think she doesn't."

"What if she actually knows more?"

"She lives one block from Slayerland, how much information do you get from that neighborhood?"

Antoine let out a slow breath. "I get the picture. I'll copy the file and put in your desk. You didn't get that from me either."

Joe watched as Antoine turned and headed back for the police station. He got in the car and started it. He was just glad Antoine knew how to play this small piece in the game he was dealing with. He figured Antoine knew he had to give up his pawn piece so he could get the king later on. "I hate having favors to repay."

Antoine knew one thing, if he got on Joe's good side, he could further his career faster. He didn't mind scratching this older cops back. It had it's place and time, he knew that time had come. He wanted to work vice, he hated working homicide, Antoine smiled a little, maybe if he could talk Joe into it, he could go undercover on this case. He'd been doing undercover work before, but when he got transferred their wasn't an opening in vice. He knew Morelli played everything close to his chest and that his partners never really were his partners. That suited him fine, he could play that way, but he needed to convince Morelli he could play that way and keep his head while doing it. Antoine copied the file and placed it in the top drawer of Morelli's desk along with a note on the inside. He explained his position, and he wanted in on this case.

Lester went into Stephanie's kitchen and opened her refrigerator. "Stephanie do you never shop?" Lester asked.

"There is bread and peanut butter, deal with it." She growled at him, a little angry with herself that she had just let Ranger give her an order that she had followed.

"Damn, don't get so hostile. It was just a simple question." Lester shut the door and then leaned up against the counter. Bobby walked into the kitchen.

"Who do you think is going to get to baby-sit who?" Bobby asked.

Lester shrugged, "Tank will probably have to take Alex, I don't want Stephanie, she's in a mood."

Bobby looked around the wall and looked at Stephanie she didn't look too happy right now. He looked back at Lester. "Maybe Ranger will take Stephanie."

"Better him than us. If he stays with Alex they'll kill each other before the day is out." Lester grinned. He had never seen his boss look so bad. "I can't believe she gave him the slip."

Bobby grinned, "I told you I liked this kid."

"Life is going to get a little more interesting. Do you know if Lula is coming back to the office building again tonight?" Lester asked.

"I don't know, but Tank has been spending a lot of time with her. He wasn't happy sitting in the SUV all night last night. Never shut up last night, all he talked about was Lula this and Lula that." Bobby complained.

Hal walked into the kitchen, "Are you two shooting the shit again? You better not let Ranger catch you two at it again."

"You gonna tattle again?" Lester jeered at him. "Not our fucking problem he sends you on shit cases half the time."

Hal didn't like Lester, he turned away and walked back into the living room with Tank and Stephanie. He was itching to prove himself to Ranger again. Ever since he let Stephanie leave when she was supposed to stay he had been getting the shittiest jobs Ranger could give him. Only in the last couple of weeks had he got back in this position of being around him again. Hal liked Ranger, liked him a lot. He wanted to please the damn guy and help him any way he could, Ranger had too much in him to teach. Hal had been more than willing to step in and learn. But it was hard coming into this little pack of guys. He hadn't been with these four when they were in the army together. It was hard getting close to these four and he was damn sure he was going to stay with this group this time.

"Why can't you lay off him?" Bobby asked.

Lester raised an eye brow at Bobby, "I'm tired of babysitting his ass. I've gotten shot twice because he doesn't watch out for my back."

"You weren't this hard on me when I got you knifed that one time down in Miami." Bobby commented.

"That was different, you didn't do it on purpose. He saw those two fucking pricks coming and didn't do shit about it. I watch his back because Ranger asks me too, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna let him waltz his way back in our group without him proving himself he can keep up."

Bobby opened Stephanie's refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water and downed it. He tossed the empty bottle in the trash in the kitchen. He knew Lester was right. Tank had grabbed Lester and Hal was salivating like a puppy dog to come along. He looked back at Lester.

Bobby leaned on the counter next to Lester, "Did you see his face when Alex told Ranger off?"

"Yeah, I did. Alex is Ranger's baby right now and Hal better watch himself. I thought Ranger was going to bust out laughing at her for a moment before he got angry." Lester said.

"I know, he was so close. Hal doesn't know him like we do though, Hal isn't going to see the humor in that kid that Ranger sees so much."

Tank moved off the couch and stepped into the kitchen. "Who is going to come with me with Alex? Have you two decided that yet?"

Lester pointed to himself. Bobby just shrugged, "Let Lester go, Hal is getting on his nerves again."

Tank looked over at Lester. "Fine, we'll let Bobby have baby-sitting duty. Unless Ranger says other wise, and you know he just might."

"I'm tired of baby-sitting him, I already told Ranger." Lester said.

"I think we all know how tired you are of him, but until he figures out it is you he has to prove himself too and not to Ranger then he gets stuck with you over and over." Bobby said.

Tank nodded in agreement. "You know that is what Ranger wants."

"I don't see it happening. He gets along okay with the guys on the other teams." Lester told him.

"You know Ranger wants a fifth man in his group." Tank said.

"Why do we have to have a fifth man? Why can't Stephanie take that place, she fits in better with us than Hal does at the moment. Hell, I'd even take Alex over Hal at this point." Lester commented.

Bobby smiled, "She wouldn't listen to Ranger, they'd be at war."

Tank grinned, "We are going to get in trouble. God help me but I like that kid."

"We've all stood up to Ranger at one point, Hal hasn't done that. If he can't stand up to Lester who is easier to do it with, he can't stand up to either you or me, Tank." Bobby said.

Tank rubbed his forehead, "I know, Hal hasn't got a clue. Ranger runs the show, but we all have a say so in what we do."

"Exactly." Lester said. "Hal doesn't need to be put with Alex at all. If she'll but heads with Ranger, she'll walk all over Hal."

Bobby nodded.

"Okay, as soon as frick and frack get out of the bathroom I'll talk to him." Tank said.

"Good, because I need a break from him before I choke him to death." Lester said.


	7. Chapter 7

Alex walked out of the bathroom with Ranger following right behind her. She wasn't sure if they had reached a truce, or had just declared where the lines would be drawn when the battle was about to commence.

"Tank, take Miss Ramono with you today." Ranger told him. _He didn't get to see Lula last night and I told him he would be able too. _Ranger watched as Tank, Lester and Bobby came out of the kitchen. "Just take Miss Ramono to her probation officer, after that, take the night off." _Who do I stick her with now? Not to mention Stephanie can't be left alone._ Ranger looked at Hal, who was standing there eager to be given something to do. "Hal you're coming with me today. Bobby stay with Stephanie."

Lester raised an eyebrow, "What do you want me to do?"

_He needs time away from Hal,_ Ranger thought. "Why don't you stay with Miss Ramono."

Lester gave a nod.

Alex gave him a look and then went over and grabbed her pill bottles, she put them in one of the pockets on her gi bottoms. "I just need a place to sleep. It would be better if I had my own bed."

Ranger shook his head no behind her back at Lester.

"Come on baby. We'll find you a bed and Uncle Tank will take you to see Jamie at three." Lester told her and held out his hand.

Alex looked at his hand like it was something covered with a disease at the moment. She looked up at Lester, "I'm not your baby."

Lester dropped his hand, "Okay smart-ass, let's go."

Alex gave Lester a half grin, she was a smart-ass, she couldn't deny that one. She walked over towards him as Tank opened the door. Tank was just relieved Ranger hadn't stuck Lester with Hal again today. And with Lester getting Alex assigned to him it didn't look like Lester was going to be with Hal for awhile. Lester followed Alex and Tank out of Stephanie's apartment. Both men towered over her. Alex felt like a dwarf around both of them. She looked up at Tank with his big barreled chest and his over manly stature. Tank had stopped at the elevator and looked back at Alex.

"Stairs." She told him and then headed to them.

Tank grinned.

Lester chuckled, "At least she's in shape."

Alex got in the SUV, she was surprised they hadn't put cuffs on her. But she was tired and sore and hurt like hell. Running was still an option but at the moment, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She had wanted to talk with Jamie anyway. And this way she would have a ride. "You do know where my place is right?"

"Yes." Lester said after he got in on the passenger side.

Tank started the SUV and drove out of the lot. Alex was watching them drive and saw them turn down the opposite way from going towards Slayerland. "You turned the wrong way."

Tank didn't say anything. He kept driving. Lester turned and looked back at her. "While you are in our custody. You won't be sleeping in your bed. After everything gets worked out, we'll see what happens from there."

Alex gave a sigh and then settled back in the seat, _just breath, a bed is a bed at this point. Let them play the big bad-ass protectors for now. I can always get away later._ Alex didn't respond back and just shut her eyes. The pain medication pulling on her mind and numbness engulfing her as she started relaxing again.

Lester looked over to Tank when Alex didn't respond, ether she was very tired and the drugs were kicking in better or she was going to be plotting a way to get away from them. Tank gave a shrug and concentrated on his driving. When they reached the underground parking at Rangeman they exited the SUV. Lester opened the back door and stuck his head in. She had actually fallen asleep. He took the time to look Alex over real well. She was a dainty little thing, but her looks were very deceiving, he had seen that sharp wit she had thrown out at Ranger. He had watched the fight that Bobby had gotten taped a week ago. Alex was dynamite wrapped up in a deceptively sweet little body.

Tank looked in at her. "I don't know if I want to wake her."

"She might explode if we do."

Tank chuckled, "Explosions are so much fun though."

Lester looked at Tank, "Rock, Paper, Scissors?"

"On the count of three." Tank agreed. They both squared off and slammed down fists in the air. Tank threw out his fist on the third one and it stayed a fist, Lester on his third throw threw down his hand flat.

He looked up at Tank, "Best two out of three?" Lester asked.

Tank smiled his white teeth gleaming. "You afraid of a little girl, Lester?"

Lester looked back in the SUV at Alex, "That is no little girl and you bloody well know it." He looked back at Tank, "Best two out of three."

"You won, winner gets the spoils." Tank started walking to the door of the elevator. "Happy plundering." Tank loved that game, winning was a bad thing, it paid to be on the loosing side of Rock, Paper, Scissors in their world. "Besides, I have to save myself for Lula this afternoon. She doesn't want her big daddy to be over excreted." He said when he punched the elevator button.

"Over excrete this!" Lester said giving him the jack-off sign.

Tank gave a bark of laughter and stepped into the elevator when it opened. He gave Lester a wave as the door shut.

Cal was watching on the monitors as Tank and Lester drove up and parked in the garage. He watched the battle between Tank and Lester on the Rock, Paper, Scissors. He spun his chair around and tapped Roy on the shoulder. "Lester lost again, what does that make him now?"

Roy turned to watch the monitor Cal pointed at. They both laughed when Lester gave the jerk-off sign to Tank. "Lester…I think that's thirty in a row now."

Manuel and Zero walked into the control room with the monitors. "Okay guys, shift change." Zero said.

"Wait, wait, wait." Cal said.

"Not yet." Roy stated. "Lester just lost at Rock, Paper, Scissors again."

Manuel gave a bark of laughter. "Lost with who?"

"With Tank, something neither one of them really want to do, evidently." Cal chuckled.

Manuel and Zero moved in behind Cal and Roy. "So who is in the SUV?" Zero asked.

"Not a clue," Roy stated.

They watched as Lester went back to the door of the SUV. From on the monitors it looked like he was stealing himself to go diving inside the vehicle. "Just get it over with." Manuel said.

Zero hit him on the shoulder. "Shush!"

All four pairs of eyes were glued to the monitor as they saw Lester going backwards and a small dainty little thing taking Lester in the midsection. Both went down on the ground with Lester taking the brunt of the concrete.

"Nice tackle!" Cal laughed out.

"Look, look!" Zero stated.

Alex was now flipping and rolling with Lester and Alex had his arms pinned behind his head with her head almost touching his.

"Damn it. We need sound in that garage." Manuel said.

She was straddling Lester her legs locked under his. They saw Lester glare at her but didn't hear what he had said to her. They saw her release his hands and put both of hers on his chest, they saw Lester's face grow extremely red.

"Fuck! We really need sound." Zero said.

"Lester must like bottom." Cal stated busting out laughing. The whole room started howling with laughter. "About time something happened to him. I'm tired of being the brunt of amniotic fluid jokes."

They saw Alex getting up off Lester, he got up as soon as she stood. He reached out to her and her arm blocked his, circled his and came up gripping his shirt near the shoulder.

"Take him down, Baby." Manuel laughed with glee.

Lester side stepped her foot and threw them both off balance with Alex now being on top of him again, laying fully on top. Lester's legs crossed over hers and pinned her to him. They saw Alex throw her head back into Lester. The whole room groaned. Alex got her legs out from being with his flipped over now where she had been able to wrap her legs under his head. Alex was sitting on his chest. Then slowly got up.

All of them started laughing as they saw that Lester was asleep on the concrete garage floor. Tank opened the door at the loud ruckus in the room.

"What happened?"

"Lester fell asleep on the job." Cal laughed out.

Tank took one look at the screen, "Fuck!"

Alex looked around the garage, she then moved to the SUV and shut the door. She leaned up against the back of the SUV. Her hair had come loose in the small skirmish she had with Lester. She removed the band that kept her hair in the ponytail and was running her fingers through her long black hair when the stairwell door opened up and Tank came walking back out of it.

He came around the vehicle that was parked near the door and looked down at Lester who was slowly gaining consciousness from being put to sleep. Tank looked up at Alex, "Was that necessary?"

"I want, MY bed in MY apartment." Alex told Tank.

Tank walked over to Lester and reached down and grabbed the man's hand and pulled him up. He tilted Lester's head back to look at his nose.

"I think the little shit broke it." Lester said with a groan. "Fuck the plundering, plundering isn't worth it when it comes to her."

"It's not broke, doesn't look like it." Tank let Lester go and walked over to Alex and stood his distance as he took a stance and crossed his arms over his chest.

Lester replayed what had just happened.

He had reached into the SUV and just touched her arm to wake her up, he hadn't expected the raging charging little package to come out tackling him. He was flat on his back and his arms pinned behind his head. He had glared at those deep dark blue assessing eyes that she had.

"_If you wanted me under you, all you had to do was ask." He had hissed out in a gravely voice to her._

_She had let go of his wrists and then placed them on his chest. Her fingers spreading across his chest, he saw her eyes go almost totally black and was mentally grinning inside that they went that way, his male beast inside roaring with gratification. She had shifted ever so slightly across his groin._

"_If I asked, that would put you in control. And in this game, I make all the moves. And your Ameba dick wouldn't satisfy anything but another single celled organism." _

_His pride was hurt, not only had she told him he couldn't obtain control over her, she didn't see him as man at all. At least not one that didn't have any problems getting younger women to beg him to control them._

Lester shook himself out of the memory playing in his head as he heard Tank say, "Okay Miss Ramono, lets try something different. At three o'clock, it is my privilege to escort you to your meeting with your probation officer. In the meantime, it would also be my privilege if you would allow me to escort you upstairs where you will find food, and a bed."

Alex blinked she had never been talked to like that in her life. She looked Tank over trying to figure out what angle he was playing at.

Lester looked at Alex, he had seen she was shocked at Tank taking the chivalry angle with her. Lester filed this away, if this angle helped, he'd take it himself if it worked. He didn't want to underestimate her again.

Alex gave a slight nod and pushed off from the SUV. She didn't look at Lester, she didn't want to see his face right now. _Lester pissed me off with that comment he made to me. I couldn't even sit still on top of him, why did my body choose that moment to react to him that way? Just breath and get out of this garage and put some space between me and him. Maybe he'll think twice about trying to touch me again, I hope he does, even if I have to make him. I can't lose my head, just because my body says, Hello, let's go get some of that._

She walked following Tank, she didn't like it that Lester was behind her, but she knew he was keeping his distance. Her personal space didn't feel threatened again.

Tank was congratulating himself, he was actually getting her to do something, something that Ranger wanted done. He had been playing the ever noble romantic with Lula and he had Lula eating out of his hands. Tank had seen the effect of a small change it had over her, he didn't think Alex was by any means a women of the street that put out freely for money. But Alex had that mentality of being born on the wrong side of the tracks.

Lester followed several paces behind Alex, he didn't want to invade her space. He saw how Tank had stayed clear from her. She was actually following him. Tank paused at the door upstairs and opened it.

"After you, Miss Ramono." Tank said as he held the door for her.

Lester saw how Alex hesitated and then went through the door. He wanted to grin so bad, but he kept it inside. The chivalry method was working wonders with her. So he learned his lesson with his nose stinging and his male ego pride brought down several pegs. Now he just had to remember to keep her thrown off balance in order to gradually get her to do something that would be a step in the right direction. He wondered when Tank started doing this shit. Tank had never played the romantic, but he was doing a hell of a job at it now.

Tank followed Alex out into the hall and Lester came in behind them. He briefly went over the rooms on this floor and walked over to one of the apartments that were empty. "We have a break room down stairs. It has food in it. If you feel the need to go exploring, go ahead. I just ask that if you wish to go outside you would either contact Lester or myself to escort you there. If you need anything, there is an intercom system just inside the door. Press the button and say my name or Lester's and we'll be more than happy to provide whatever you should desire."

He opened the door and allowed Alex to enter it.

Alex turned back and looked at Tank after she went inside. "Er…thank you."

"You're welcome, Miss Ramono." Tank shut the door and then turned to look at Lester breathing out a sigh of relief. "I feel for you. I really do." He walked over to Lester and slapped him on the shoulder. "She's all yours until I need to take her to her probation officer."

Lester watched Tank walk away. He went to his apartment that was stationed across from the one Alex was in and opened the door. He didn't close his, he left it open and sat on the couch just inside. He needed some time alone to sit and absorb everything he just witnessed.

Alex blinked at the closed door. _Now, why did I just do what he asked? _She ran her fingers through her unbound hair. Turning around she checked out the small apartment, it wasn't very big at all. She went to the bed and crawled into it, pulling the pillow up underneath as she reclined on the bed on her stomach. She let her eyes fall shut and willed her mind to not think on anything, her body craved peace and quiet, and she wanted that more than anything at the moment.


	8. Chapter 8

_I can't believe I just let him take my control of my skip this way. This is my skip, not his. I asked for his help, not for him to come in and control everything._ Stephanie had watched Alex leave with Tank and Lester. She got up and looked at Ranger. "I would like to talk with you in the bedroom."

Ranger nodded and followed Stephanie into her bedroom. He shut the door behind them.

"Babe?"

Stephanie turned to look at him. "This is my skip. When I called I didn't think you would come in here and take all the control away from me on my skip."

"You asked for my help, what did you expect to happen?"

Stephanie put her hands on her hips. "Not for you to come in here and pull all that macho shit on me. I'm not some dog you can just command to sit down for you."

_And Alex said I can control her. Little shit needs to see her like this._ "Babe, you have stitches in your head and a concussion. Do you possible think you can keep yourself awake when your skip needs sleep? You know how I am, I run things my way when you ask for help, it's always been that way."

"Maybe I don't like your way!" Stephanie yelled at him. "I want my skip back here, and I don't want a babysitter."

Ranger walked closer to her, "I'm not about to leave you alone when you need to stay awake."

Bobby was in the living room. Even through the walls he could hear how bad of a mood Stephanie was in. _Jeeze! I hate when Lester is right. Damn she is in a mood in a bad way. I think I should have went with Tank and Lester._

Hal looked at Bobby, "It doesn't sound like it's going to well in there."

"No shit Sherlock." Bobby stated the obvious. "Just be glad you don't have to deal with her when you and Ranger leave."

"I'll give you that I need to stay awake. But that doesn't give you the right to take my skip." Stephanie stated loudly.

"Babe, you never had control of your skip. Even as messed up as your skip is, Alex felt the need to come back and help you when you hurt yourself chasing after her. Alex has been in control of the situation ever since she started helping you. How long do you think she would have stayed?" Ranger growled back at her.

"Don't get angry with me. Get out of my apartment and take your merry ass damn men with you!" Stephanie wanted so much to hit him, she knew he was right and she was tired of being wrong. Tired of looking like the fool when he was around her. Tired of being a fool.

Ranger turned and stalked from the room. _She asked for my help, she knows what I'm like. If she didn't want my help she shouldn't have asked for it. She knows I demand payment when she asks for things._ He looked at Hal, "Let's go." He walked over to the door and opened it as Hal walked out. He looked back at Bobby who was looking at the bedroom door with trepidation. "Twenty-four hours." Then he left slamming Stephanie's apartment door.

"Damn him!" Stephanie stomped her foot on the floor in her room.

Bobby walked cautiously towards the bedroom door. Stephanie looked up as she heard footsteps coming. She strode over towards the door with her hands on her hips and glared at Bobby. "Get the fuck out!"

"No." Bobby told her in a calm voice. "Stephanie, be rational, you really don't need to be left alone with a concussion."

"I can call Lula to come over. I don't need you around." Stephanie pushed him out of the way and went to get her cell phone. She turned it on and didn't get a dial tone. "Fucking shit. She has my cell phone chip in her damn pocket."

Bobby snickered from behind her. He couldn't help himself, Alex had did this to her, this was something Ranger would have done for her not to have contact with the outside world. Stephanie whirled around and flung the phone at his head. Bobby didn't duck in time and took it in the right eye.

"Shit Stephanie, don't take it out on me." Bobby told her.

"Give me your phone!" Stephanie shouted at him.

"Not until you calm down." Bobby answered her. He bent to retrieve the vile object that had just connected with his face. "Ranger's right, you never had control of your skip."

Stephanie saw red and charged at him. She tackled him and they went falling, Bobby hit his head hard against the bedroom door frame. Stephanie barely missed hitting her head herself and then was sprawled across his lifeless body. She took a moment to assess herself and pushed off of him. "You should have left when I told you too."

Stephanie grabbed Bobby's cell phone that was snapped to the sides of his cargo pants and took it off. She got up and fished her keys to the Cooper off the coffee table where Alex had so graciously decided to leave them and then strode out of her apartment door. She turned back and locked Bobby inside it. She dialed Lula's number as she headed towards the elevator.

"Hello!" Lula answered, "Who's this?"

"It's Stephanie, I'm driving to the office, but I really need you to drive today and no music. I have a concussion and four damn stitches in my head because of my skip and I want to pay her back for it."

"Oh shit! What did she do?" Lula asked, "you know, this is what you get when you don't take a full figured woman such as myself along."

Stephanie stepped out of the elevator. "I'll be there in ten. I'll tell you all about it on the way to the little shit's apartment."

"This will be good, we'll do some serious cool shit in that place to fuck with this girl." Lula said, "I've got your back girlfriend."

Stephanie hung up Bobby's phone and then tossed it over into the dumpster. "Happy fucking dumpster surfing." Then she slid behind the Cooper and tore out of the parking lot.

Shiropolli's henchman just pulled the white van into the Gateway Apartments. He laughed at seeing the sign, it had been tagged to read Gateway to Hell, Apartments had been spray painted out but you could still read it through the paint. The brown paint looked like shit on the dilapidated buildings, they stood by a hairsbreadth of being condemned for the wretched sight they cast off on the city. He continued slowly over the speed bumps and even slower over the pot holes in the pavement. When he reached the third building he slowed down and scanned the lot.

"Go check out the apartment, and get a way in fast." He told the man sitting in the passenger seat.

The man got out, he had his work coveralls on. He placed the painters hat on his head and headed to building C apartment 1. It was a bottom floor apartment. He knocked on the door and looked down the corridors to the other doors. TV was blaring in 2 and he could hear the morning argument coming from door 3 right behind him. He took the picks out of his pocket and picked the lock on the front door and then opened it up.

Walking inside he saw the hovel didn't contain much but the bare minimum. He could see junkie remains scattered here and there in the living room, the only thing that looked odd in the room was a trashed out Triumph motorcycle. The gas tank looked like it had been previously painted not too long ago with a iridescent Chinese dragon in flight. The seat had been taped with black electrical tape to hold it in place and the chrome on the bike was covered in rust.

He moved through the living room and into the hall, the first door he opened led into a shabby green and white bathroom. The second door led to a bedroom that had two large mattresses on the floor and looked more like a junkies palace than a kid's room. He stepped back out and looked at door number three. Opening it up he smiled to himself.

This was the kids room. He looked at the black ceiling that had a mural of a white tiger, surrounding the white tiger was the Chinese zodiac signs and had lightening crashing all around it. He glanced at the bed that was decently made with dark purple sheets and a black bedspread. The floor was clean, nothing littered it unless you counted what appeared to be hundreds of karate trophies standing along the floor, on wood shelves and any place they looked like they could go. He spun back around and went to go get the guys.

The henchman got out when he saw his man coming back, both of them went to the back of the van and pulled the painters tarp that had the dead women inside of it out. Along with the third man in the van they hauled the body out. The third man carried paint buckets, the three of them looked like average painters just there to do a job. They got the body inside the apartment and then unwrapped her before taking the body into Alex's bedroom. They placed her mother's lifeless body on the bed naked.

The henchman took one of the black karate belts that had Ramono stitched in gold lettering off the top of the dresser and then tied it so it was inside her mother's mouth. He took her watch he never gave back to her layed it down on the dresser propped up against a photo of Alex at a karate tournament.

"Let's leave." He told them. They gathered up the tarp and paint cans and headed outside. The henchman had just stepped out of the apartment door when he saw the red firebird pull up and two women get out. He looked back at the last man as he pulled the door and was trying to lock the door with the picks. "Leave it."

They all three started walking down the corridor as both women walked purposefully their way. The glare that came from the curly brunette stated one angry bitch wasn't going to wait for them to get out of the corridor.

The chocolate woman with bright green hair pushed the henchman in the chest. "Get out of our way, we are on a mission."

"Get a grip," Stephanie told Lula, "Sorry about that." She strode away following Lula.

The henchman walked briskly to the van and all of them piled in. He cranked the ignition over as he saw the two women talking in front of the Ramono's apartment door. He pulled the van out and drove away.

Stephanie had a tingling down her spine as she had looked at the tall man with the scar that ran across his face. She had stopped with Lula just in front of Alex Ramono's apartment door and made Lula wait before trying the door. She looked back at the van and watched it pull away.

"We can't just walk in while they were out here." Stephanie told her.

"Sure we can, if we think our skip is in there. But, we know our skip isn't in there, we know she is with Ranger."

Stephanie growled, "I told you don't mention his name."

"Well, it's kind of hard not too. I didn't get my night with my man because he called my man away. And Tank is one fine man and I need my time with him as well. I don't like it when Ranger tells him to jump and he just dumps me back to second place. I'm not second place, I'm a first place woman."

"Damn straight you are, both of us are. We shouldn't take Ranger's shit anymore." Stephanie grasped the door knob and didn't even turn it and the door gave way. "I locked the door the last time I was here."

"Well, ain't that something, all we have to do is just do the entering now." Lula told her. "I was hoping to do some breaking."

Bobby came slowly awake, he reached for the back of his head and groaned as he felt the lump. His eyes came open and slowly he focused on his surroundings. "Stephanie's apartment, why am I in Stephanie's apartment?"

He sat up slowly and then put his arms across his bent knees and got up off the ground. He looked around the apartment. There didn't look like a struggle, "Stephanie?" He called out.

Bobby didn't get an answer. Slowly everything started to come back to him and he looked down for his cell phone. It was missing from the clip. "Oh Shit!"

Bobby stood up and picked up Stephanie's cell phone off the floor that was beside him and he looked at it. "I should have given her my damn phone. Ranger is going to kill me."

He strode to her door and turned the knob, she had locked it. Bobby unlocked the door and turned around, using his pick locking tools he locked her door back. He walked briskly to the stairwell and took the stairs. Going outside he saw her Cooper was gone, gone, gone.

"Fucking shit, I'm so dead. I'm deader than dead." He spun around and went back inside to the payphone in the foyer and called the control room.

Zero answered the phone, "Your dime."

"I need a readout on my phone, where is it?" Bobby asked Zero.

"You lost your phone?" Zero snickered at him.

"Something like that. Just tell me where the fuck it is." Bobby growled, he rubbed the goose knot on the back of his head. "I don't have all day."

Zero punched on the keys on the keyboard in front of him. He checked the monitor, "It looks to be in Stephanie's parking lot. How did you lose your phone?"

"Stephanie threw it out the window. She was a little mad." Bobby lied smoothly.

"Is she still mad at you?" Zero asked laughing.

"Yup." Bobby told him then hung up. No need in telling him he lost her. He just had to make sure he had his phone incase Ranger called. He was going to have to cover his ass big time.

Bobby went back out in the lot. "Okay, I'm a pissed off Stephanie Plum, so pissed off, I told Ranger off, and knocked out one of his men and took his phone. Now where would she put it?" Bobby scanned the lot. The bushes were too obvious, she was too pissed just to toss it in the bushes. His eyes kept roaming then landed on the dumpster, he groaned. "She wouldn't do that, would she?"

Bobby started walking over towards the dumpster, "Would any of us do this to her? Hell no. We wouldn't humiliate her like this. She does enough humiliating to herself without our help." Bobby kept talking to himself trying to fathom the depths of Stephanie's mind. He looked over the edge of the dumpster and was about knocked out because of the stench that flowed out from it. "Would she throw my phone in the dumpster?" He asked himself. He didn't want to know the answer to that, but he groaned when he thought he knew it. "Yes she would. Damn it!"

Bobby climbed into the dumpster placing his feet carefully inside on bags he thought didn't look like they would give way to noxious substances. He threw other bags aside until he caught a brief glimpse of silver. "Shit! That better not be shit that is covered all over my damn phone."

Bobby found an empty McDonald's bag that had been tossed in and gingerly picked up his phone with it after he used the bag to buffer his hands from the brown substance that was slathered all over his phone. He lifted and grimaced, but there was only one way to tell for sure, he brought it closer to his nose and gave a sniff. He smelled the sweet smell of chocolate and started laughing. "Thank you, there is a god." Then the bags below him gave way and Bobby lost his footing and tumbled head first in the decaying garbage.


	9. Chapter 9

Ranger was driving around in his black BMW. His mind was not on talking to Gaspick today. He had every intension of going and talking to the man to see if he could get him to drop the charges on Alex; but he now found himself angry. His anger would not be a good thing for confronting a police officer who was still intent for all practical purposes as to seeing to the punishment of a minor for her indiscretion.

Hal noticed Ranger was in his zone. The quietness inside the car was making Hal get uncomfortable at seeing his mentor in this state. For himself, Hal couldn't believed he had allowed Alex to talk to him that way. Hal knew, or at least he hoped he knew that Ranger would explain the situation to the kid of how things would be in the future. He thought this kid needed to be taught a lesson in respect and manners.

_So what if she grew up how she did._ Hal thought, _"it still doesn't give her the right to talk to Ranger like she did._ He looked over at Ranger, he could see Ranger's jaw was set, he glanced at Ranger's hands, his knuckles white with the taunt strain of gripping the wheel. Hal really hated seeing him like this, he was explosive in this nature. _Ranger was right about Stephanie, she has no control over her skips. Hell, I'm surprised she brings in as many as she does. Luck can only get you so far in this game. _He just couldn't let it go. _If he could just give up helping her, and running to her every time she asks, things would go back to normal. He's already spent several hundred thousand dollars on her. Not to mention all the time and money he's paid for us to do it as well._

Hal couldn't believe Ranger would allow himself to sink so low as to take on the responsibility of Stephanie Plum, when she was someone else's girlfriend. _Morelli needs to do this shit. Someone really needs to knock some sense into that women. She needs a different job. What she really needs to do is get out of Ranger's life. It's all because of her our lives have been turned upside down to pander to a damn clueless female. That's the problem, females are nothing but trouble. _He glanced at Ranger again, he had circled this block for the seventh time. _I can't believe he actually paid to have an FTA released from a loan shark. Big deal he can relate to this kid. Doesn't mean he has to play Daddy to the little fuck. This kid is nothing but trouble and deserves to pay for what she's done. She has problems with authority and a good solid year in lock-up would probably help with that._

"What are we going to do today?" Hal asked Ranger no longer being able to stand the silence and the continued path around the same set of blocks.

Ranger looked over at Hal then went back to staring at the road he was driving on. Ranger knew he wouldn't be good for anyone for the rest of the day. Bobby had Stephanie and Lester would be with Alex. He just needed to dump Hal somewhere. He figured it was time he went in the wind for twenty-four hours or more with no interruptions. Ranger made a u-turn and drove to Rangeman. "I'm dropping you back off at headquarters."

Hal furrowed his brow at him, "You want me with anyone?"

His men always worked in teams, other than when he rotated out his personal team. Tank, Lester, and Bobby, those were his personal team members. They all meshed real well together, but here lately he was wanting to add another person to the team so they could start having more time. He had been giving Tank more responsibilities and it was now eating in Tank's amount of time he was able to spend with Lula. He really didn't like that. But he didn't want to leave the two youngest of his team in charge. Lester and Bobby were players, he knew those two wouldn't be able to crack down. Both of them would go into withdrawals from not having women around them if longer than four days. He felt Bobby was getting a little better about this, but Lester he was still certain was the consummate playboy. Lester liked younger women, it didn't help the fact that Lester had an fake identification card made so he could actually get in the younger clubs. Bobby had one as well. Those two both were driving him nuts, but he couldn't help but like them. They meshed well with him. Tank was his rock and right hand man. Tank found Bobby and Lester amusing, just as much as he himself did. But with Hal, Hal was a different story. Hal got along with Ranger, Tank, and Bobby. With Lester, the two never really hit it off, but for at the first. That was when he started noticing slight changes in Lester's attitude towards Hal. He had a change himself towards Hal when Hal wasn't able to keep Stephanie where he wanted her kept.

Lester is going to be pissed with me. I can't leave Hal on his own though, the man thinks he's the problem solver in my operation. Granted at times he's solved quite a few problems with the guys. I know Hal hates it that Lester catches all the hot young girls who are barely legal, but that is just who Lester is. Hal just needs to get over that and get along with Lester. Ranger thought as he pulled up in front of his building. "You're with Lester."

Ranger heard Hal get out and shut the door, he heard the muttered oath. Ranger shook his head and drove away. I need to get my head on straight, what I really need is to talk to my brother, not over the phone this time. With that in mind, Ranger wound his way to the highway, Jose Manoso lived in Connecticut. They would know when he started heading in this direction they would know exactly where he was headed. And when he went to see his brother, they also knew, that under life and death was the only way he would report in or receive phone calls. Ranger turned off his cell phones in the car. He would leave the GPS tracking on, but that was all.

Babe! Why did you have to fight with me? Why? Ranger hated this feeling that was coming over him. He felt like Stephanie was pulling away from him, it was engulfing him. That was one of the reasons why he just needed to get away. He didn't really know how to deal with this feeling, this feeling of loss that was starting to hurt. He had never seen Stephanie that angry with him before, with Morelli? Yes, he had seen her angry with Morelli to the point of war breaking out between them.

Ranger turned on the radio he needed something to distract his mind, when the sound died out Ranger glanced at the radio. Lester had taken his car out to get it cleaned just last night, the next song was starting up and Ranger realized Lester had left a cd in the cd player. He reached to turn the cd off but stopped when he heard the words of the song.

It isn't a crime to want, a little space to breathe, but you will be fine, the sun again will shine on you, whatever you do. Ranger started the song over again, when it got the first part done he let it continue to the chorus next. Take your sweet, sweet time, I will be here when you change your mind, take your sweet, sweet time, I will be here for you baby. Anytime. Ranger smiled, his breathing started to even out and he wasn't gripping the steering wheel quite so hard now. I'm feeling you pull away, 'cause letting go isn't easy for me, but you'll never fly, with someone else's wings, I know, wherever you go. Ranger reached over and pressed the stop button.

Lester, I'm going to kill you, what are you doing listening to this mush in my car? Ranger thought, he pushed the eject button and looked at the cd. Jesse McCartney 'Beautiful Soul'. He pushed it back in and flipped the tracks until it came back to the song again. The song finally got to the next part after the chorus repeats itself, I will never stand in your way, wherever your heart may lead you, I will love you the same, and I will be your comfort every day, do you hear the words I say? Ranger listened as the chorus repeated one last time and the final time. He hit the eject button, pushed the button for his window to roll down and tossed Lester's cd out onto the highway.

Ranger continued driving in silence, he had the words playing over and over again in his head on that song.

"Fuck!" He pounded the steering wheel and went over three lanes of traffic so he could get to the exit. He sped down the exit ramp, and then started looking for a store. Ranger found a Jon-Roc Music store and pulled into the parking lot. He sat breathing, trying to get his heart rate back to a speed that he considered normal instead of the racing thump, thump, thump it was going. He exited the BMW and then jerked the door open and wanted to shoot the bell above his head that tinkled his entrance. He stalked over to the cd racks and started looking for the cd he had just thrown out. He found the cd and went to the counter and slapped it down on the counter. The very gay blonde behind the counter picked it up and giggled when he saw it. He looked up at Ranger and his mouth dropped.

"Er…Er…"

"Punch the buttons, and scan the cd. It's not hard, you get paid to do this job." Ranger said in a slow steady voice as his heart was pounding. Just ring me the hell up so I can get the teenie bopper cd.

He dropped his eyes back to the cd and then fumbled with the scanner dropping it twice in Ranger's presence. It was ten minutes later when Ranger walked out and noticed all the voided duplicates on his receipt for the cd. He shook his head and got in the BMW and slammed the door shut. He wanted to kill this singer for singing this song. But he had to hear it again.

He slit the clear foil wrapping off then opened up the jewel case and pushed the white cd back inside his player. He punched the forward button until he got to track four and started the BMW again. He peeled out of the parking spot and made his way back to the highway. Ranger had found his hand going back to the cd player and hitting repeat for the song. Whatever it was doing, it was started to calm the savage beast that was residing just below the surface in him.

Bobby let out a ring of explicatives and he climbed out of the garbage dumpster. He looked at his clothes, "Shit! My life is shit. Stephanie hates me."

He strode over to the Bronco that had been left for him and climbed in after he opened the door. Bobby didn't care that the Bronco was going to have to be scrubbed to within an inch of its life. "Lester can fucking clean the Bronco. God! I can't stand this smell." Bobby rolled down all the windows he could and put the air on full blast, it still wasn't helping. His eyes were watering, he smelled bad, worse than bad. He smelled the worst he ever had in his entire life.

"Stephanie Plum!"

He drove to the apartment him and Lester shared when they weren't staying the night at the headquarters. Bobby climbed the stairs and wrestled with the door as his anger was building. Their neighbor across the way opened her door and came out.

"Awgh, God what is that smell." She said.

Bobby whipped around. She had just moved into the complex and now he looked like shit. He looked like shit in front of a young blonde bombshell beauty that he had been trying to nail ever since she had moved in.

Her eyes looked up and saw Bobby covered in filth, she saw him grin shyly at her. "Gawd its coming from you." She fanned her hands in front of her face and ran down the stairs. "Gawd you reek, you stinking reek. Forget about tonight, I'm not into that smell."

Bobby growled and turned around and finally was able to escape into the apartment. "Thanks a lot Stephanie, there now goes my Friday night tryst."

Bobby stripped his clothes in the foyer of the place and stalked naked into the kitchen and grabbed a black trash bag. "No way I'm keeping those clothes." He went back to the foyer and then shoved the clothes violently inside the bag ripped the bag in the process as it busted open and the clothes spilled out all over the foyer making an even bigger mess.

"Fuck!"

He went back into the kitchen and grabbed another bag out of the box and did the process all over again. This time keeping his violent reactions to a minimum so he could dispose of the repulsive mess. Bobby stalked off to the bathroom and pulled the shower curtain back so hard the whole pole holding the shower curtain on came down with a crash on the tile floor. He didn't bother fixing anything back in place. Instead he started the shower and scrubbed himself clean three or four times trying to rid himself of the smell of the dumpster. Stepping out of the shower he looked around at the drenched room. He hung his head.

"Someone must really hate me." He looked up to the ceiling, "Was I such an asshole in my former life that you just had to have a good laugh over me today?"

He grabbed a towel and started drying off. "I promise, I won't be such a horn dog anymore if you only let me find her. I'll promise anything if you just let me find her before Ranger finds out I've lost her."

Going to his bedroom he pulled out clean clothes. "I have to find her, my life depends on my finding her." He said as he pulled the shirt over his head and stuffed his arms through the sleeves. He looked into the mirror. "Calm down, start thinking like Stephanie again. She wanted Lula. Where would Lula be?"

He shook his head yes, "The bond office, I know, I'm going." He told his reflection, "you don't have to tell me twice." Bobby sat on the bed and laced up his black sneakers and then took off out of the apartment. "One step at a time. She never seemed to be able to think that far in advance. She's impulsive, so I have to start thinking impulsively."


	10. Chapter 10

Joe sat in the tan unmarked cop car down the street from Shiropolli's house. It was big, too big to be in Trenton, even on the outskirts like it was. It was manor, or a very small mansion. Morelli had relieved the other shift, the night shift who had been watching the house. He only had to do this for three hours then he was free, free to go home and catch up on sleep he so desperately needed. He looked down at the third cup of coffee, the taste was starting to wane in his mouth. At times like these, he wished he drank on the job. He would rather be half sloshed and bored out of his mind than being bored and having a foreboding feeling that something bad was going to be taking place.

Reaching over to the glove compartment he opened it up and pulled out the bottle of Maalox. He took a swig. _I'm going through cases of this shit. My life is to drown in a tunnel of Maalox. Maybe Antoine's right, I should see a doctor about this. Yeah, but I don't want to find out I have a stomach ulcer. I don't need a doctor, I am a man, in the prime of my life. _He looked at the Maalox bottle and tossed it in the passenger seat. _A man who has an orange dog who will eat me out of house and home and that includes the furniture._

Morelli snickered. _I like that dog though, I still can't believe I ended up with the dog. I ended up with the responsibility of that dog while Stephanie gets visitation rights but not the responsibility of him. Who am I kidding Steph wouldn't be able to handle Bob. Bob walks all over her. Just like her damn skips do, they walk all over her._

Joe looked up as he saw the front door open. A little dog came bounding out on a leash, he could see Shiropolli starting to walk down his long drive with the little dog. As they came closer to the end of the drive towards the street, Morelli noted the little dog looked like a chocolate teddy bear. He noted the time on the log book that had been passed over to him from the previous look out. Mainly there was a lot of comings and goings with plate numbers being written down. He flipped back through the last couple of days and noticed Shiropolli took the dog for a walk at the same time every morning down to the end of his street and back. Joe continued to watch, the man was a creature of habit when he was at home. Shiropolli didn't look out of place in this neighborhood. Joe felt he belonged here, Shiropolli looked like he belonged here.

His cell phone rang, Joe answered it. "Fuck, we are already twenty minutes late."

"Who is this?" Joe asked.

"Morelli, Shiropolli finally said something in his house and we got him on tape. He ordered a message to be delivered at the kid's house." Joe recognized the voice as the dark haired agent he had spoken to earlier at the station.

"Shiropolli is out walking his dog right now." Joe told him.

"Good, just stick with him. Davarus and I are heading to the kids house now. I just hope we aren't too late in catching Shiropolli's handymen."

"I'll watch him, call me." Joe hung up the phone.

He looked back at Shiropolli just strolling down the street without a care in the world but for his little dog. If you looked at Shiropolli twice, no one would guess that he was a loan shark. The FBI had his house wired for the last three months and hadn't gotten anything out of the man they could possibly use until today. The guy was smooth, Joe couldn't believe he made this slip. Joe still couldn't shake the feeling that something didn't feel right with this case, it was like everything was falling into place too easily for it to go this smoothly.

His phone rang again and Joe flipped it on, "Talk to me."

He could hear Lula in the background. "I ain't staying here, not with no naked dead woman. Don't care."

"Shut up! Get a grip, it's not like you haven't seen a dead body before." Joe heard Stephanie yell angrily back at Lula.

"Don't give me no lip, its not like I go around finding dead bodies all the time, just because I'm with you sometimes and see them."

Joe couldn't handle it anymore, "Stephanie!" Joe yelled into the phone.

"What!" Stephanie yelled back at him, "Oh, Joe you need to send someone over to Alex Ramono's apartment."

Ramono's? "Fuck! Stephanie, you aren't supposed to be in that apartment. Why do you keep doing shit you know you aren't allowed to do?" Joe growled into the phone with authority.

"Don't yell at me! I don't need any damn orders from you. I'm reporting a fucking dead body for the thousandth time." Stephanie snapped back into the phone.

"Orders? I haven't even began to give you orders. You want orders, quit your fucking job and get a new one. You don't do that then there is no us!" The venom dripped from Joe's tongue as his breathing accelerated.

Stephanie kicked at the karate trophies in the room, "I tried that…You know what, fuck off."

"Get the fuck out of there before the Feds come breaking down the door!" Joe reached for the Maalox he had thrown on the seat next to him. "Stay out of my damn cases!"

"Don't tell me what to do. You don't have that right anymore! I'm not going to listen to anyone anymore, this is my life, no one else's." Stephanie yelled at him.

Lula couldn't believe Stephanie was in raging hormonal war mode. "I'm leaving, let's just get the hell out of here. I don't want no dead body cooties, I don't like death cooties. She's just creeping me out with that black belt in her mouth, that's a message. Message for not talking."

Stephanie looked at Lula, "Don't let the feds fucking get to my skip, because I'll make damn sure I'll hound you till your dying breath."

"Damn it Stephanie, get out of there now, if you don't listen to me this time, this is it. We're through. I can't have you walking into my cases that can get you killed." Joe slammed back a dose of Maalox, he was contemplating on downing the whole bottle.

"NO. NO! I broke up with you." Stephanie wanted to throw something, anything. Then the phone line went dead.

Stephanie looked at Lula's phone, "He hung up on me!"

Lula put her hands on her hips, "And?"

"I hate when people do that to me!" Stephanie growled out at Lula, "I broke up with him, I'm the queen of break ups, and he tried to take that away from me."

"Well! Don't that beat all. I hate to tell you this, but there is a dead body in that bed." Lula pointed over to the bed.

Stephanie turned to look at the body and her mind slowly started comprehending what Joe had said about the feds. "Oh Shit!"

"We did that before." Lula said, "I'm out of here."

Lula spun around and started walking out of the bedroom, that was when she heard the front door open up. Lula turned and headed to the window waving her arms. Stephanie ran past Lula and reached the window first and wrenched it open. She pushed on Lula to get her through the window and ended up having to put her foot in Lula's big butt to get her out of the window. Stephanie climbed out after her and just made it when two men came through the door to the room with guns drawn.

"Stop! Freeze!" The blonde said and then shot a round towards Stephanie who bolted and started running. She beat Lula to the firebird.

"They are shooting at us!" Stephanie yelled at Lula, "Get in here."

Lula just got behind the wheel and turned the engine over when she reversed out of the parking space and went over the curb going backwards with her eyes as wide as golf balls. "This isn't good. This is so not good."

"I hate getting shot at." Stephanie told Lula.

"Those were cops, cops never shoot at us." Lula said, "I'm more used to the skips doing that shit, not the good guys."

Lula turned the wheel and ended up with her back tire in one of the potholes in the pavement. She moved the gear shift to drive and punched the gas peddle to the floor when another shot rang out and hit the back of her car. Two more shots ran out and hit another car they just passed, the trunk of the car had been open and hanging in the back of the car was one of those medium sized canisters that looked like a clown that blew up helium balloons at kids birthday parties. The bullets hit the clown and the explosion was deafening, the rear end of the car went up four feet flipped over and landed on the van that was beside it. Lula kept the car going not bothering to look back as she drove like a demon running from the angels of the host.

Davarus hit his partner in the shoulder, "You stupid Fuck, you just landed us with no vehicle to go after Shiropolli's stooges."

Jackson turned to his partner, "That wasn't my bullet that was yours."

They both then turned to look at the rear end of the fire blazing car that was crumbled inside the van up top. Jackson started towards the van along with Davarus as the crackle of the fire kept blazing away.

Joe was still sitting in the unmarked car as he heard the call go over the police scanner. There had been an explosion on Damascus Street, one block from Slayerland. Joe downed the rest of the Maalox bottle. "I'm seeing a doctor tomorrow. I need a fucking shrink to get my head on straight."

Lester was sitting on the couch with his legs propped up on the coffee table in front of him, just staring off at the dark TV across the way. He heard the cough at his door and turned to see Hal standing in the doorway. "That was fast, Ranger get Gaspick to drop the charges that quick?"

"No, he dropped me back off here, he had a fight with Stephanie Plum and then just took off." Hal said, "He said I'm to be with you. So where's the kid?"

_Ranger had a fight with Stephanie? Ranger has never had a fight with Stephanie. _ "Come again?" Lester asked in perplexed shock.

"They had a fight over the kid, something about being incompetent to control her skips." Hal said as he took a step in Lester's apartment. "So where's the kid?"

_Incompetent? Ranger wouldn't have said she was incompetent, Stephanie wasn't incompetent, but Ranger never thought she was. Ranger only said she had no control, there was a difference. _He looked back at Hal. "So he left you with me, and just took off, he didn't say where he was going?"

"No, just took off." Hal shrugged his shoulders. He looked at Lester and then growled out, "Where is the fucking kid?"

_What is his problem with Alex? _Lester put his feet down and stood up and walked towards the door. He glared at Hal, "Change your damn attitude." Lester swelled his chest out, "She has a name, Miss Ramono."

Lester moved around Hal and pushed into his shoulder as he did and punched the intercom by the door. "Tank we have a situation, come to my room." He jerked his finger back and crossed his arms across his chest glaring at Hal.

"What is your fucking problem?" Hal asked.

"I don't want you anywhere around Miss Ramono." Lester told him.

Hal squared off and crossed his arms over his chest and glared back at Lester. "You don't have any say over that, only Ranger does."

"Ranger isn't here, so Tank will give you new orders." Lester told him.

Tank walked just inside the door and stopped when he saw Lester squaring off with Hal. "What's going on?"

Lester looked past Hal's shoulder. "Ranger is in the wind, he had a fight with Stephanie, Ranger had told Hal to come back to me. I don't like his attitude towards the young lady that Ranger placed in my custody."

Tank glanced from Lester to Hal, "Ranger had a fight with Stephanie?" He asked in disbelief.

Hal turned to look at Tank, "They fought over that fucking kid and Stephanie's incompetence."

Tank's brows raised, "I see…Hal, right now, you will not be working with Lester covering Miss Ramono. Lester has it handled. I need you to follow me and we'll see about placing you with someone who needs your insight on other matters." _Ranger has never called Stephanie incompetent. Hal thinks Stephanie is incompetent. Now what do I do with Hal?_

Bobby walked out of the bail bonds office, "If she went into that apartment after Ranger told her she wouldn't be welcome in that neighborhood, Ranger is going to shake her to pieces."

He got in the front seat and started the Bronco the police scanner he had turned on was blaring out a call on Desmond Street with explosions. "Damn it! Why Stephanie? Why on my watch?"

Bobby had let all the air out of the tires on the Cooper before he had went into the bond office, he didn't want Stephanie having an easy time getting away from him. He felt sadistic in doing it, but it was a partial pay back for throwing his phone in the dumpster. He looked at his chocolate covered phone, praying that it wouldn't ring, because he hadn't even had the chance to even try to clean it yet. He pulled out on the road and started heading to Desmond Street, three blocks away from the bond office. Lula's firebird flew passed him at an alarming rate of speed.

"What the fuck?" Bobby said to no one as he made a U-turn to follow the firebird. "Lula, Tank is going to hurt your damn lead foot."

He cheered up a little bit though, Stephanie was with Lula, he had gotten that out of Connie only after she had thrown her nail file at him. Then proceeded to throw several other things at him as well. He had been treated to constant threats and something about Ranger's damn fault for Stephanie being in such a foul mood that she had rejected taking any of the skips they had piled up on the counter and taking Lula with her.

He caught up with the firebird and hit the horn. Lula swerved at the horn and took out a Federal blue mailbox. "Damn woman, that's federal offense messing with United States mail." Bobby slowed his pace some staying at a safe distance.

"Lula! Slow the fuck down!" Stephanie told her as she had her feet planted on the dashboard and her hands bracing herself for the impact of the erratic driving Lula was doing. Stephanie looked back and noticed the black Bronco following them. Stephanie groaned. "Great just fucking great, he found me."

"The feds, the feds are behind me?" Lula asked hysterically and ran a red light.

Stephanie closed her eyes as they barely made it through the intersection as the other cars started pulling into it. Bobby saw them coming and swerved to miss the cars and did a 180 before he got the Bronco turned back in the right direction going after the firebird.

"Jesus! I think I just messed my pants." Bobby was more intent now at catching them. "What the fuck is wrong with them? Jesus Stephanie its not like you haven't blown things up before."

Stephanie was trying to breath, she reached over towards the keys on the firebird. "You're going to get us killed!"

"Don't yell at me."

"Well stop!" Stephanie yelled back as she finally got a hold of the keys.

Lula let go of the wheel and started slapping Stephanie's hands. "Those are my keys, I didn't say you can touch my keys."

"Drive!" Stephanie yelled as the firebird was now careening towards the sidewalk.

Lula grabbed the steering wheel and barely missed taking out the light post and then slammed on the brakes. Stephanie was jerked forward and her legs slipped down to the floor, the seatbelt caught her in the chest and she lost her breath with the gut wrenching pain of being thrown forward. Lula skidded to a stop one block later.

Bobby's heart felt like it was beating out of his chest as he saw the firebird almost take out the light post. He stopped the Bronco right behind the firebird and jumped out and went straight over to the firebird and wrenched open the door to the driver side.

"Are you okay?" Bobby asked. He saw Lula babbling about how her baby was fine.

Stephanie already had her hands inside Lula's purse and pulled out the electric taser that Tank had given Lula and shot it at Bobby.

"Holy cow! What you do that for?" Lula asked Stephanie.

Stephanie looked at the Bronco and then to Lula, "We need to change vehicles. And we'll just take Bobby us. I mean, we can't leave him on the street. I just sent enough volts up him to light up Brooklyn."

Lula looked out at Bobby laying on the concrete beside her open door. "But the feds are after us."

"Ranger and Tank will be after us when they find out what we just did to Bobby, we can't just leave him here." Stephanie told her.

"You have a point there."


	11. Chapter 11

Carl Costanza and Eddie Garza responded to the call on Desmond Street. Carl walked over to Eddie who was out of his patrol car and leaned up against the cruiser watching the blazing fire. The fire truck pulled into the apartments next and scrambling around getting all the hoses and everything hooked up. They saw two feds shaking their heads at the devastation.

"Not as smooth as her normal explosions." Carl said smiling.

"Nope, but you got to love it. She took out the feds van. I don't think anything with the feds are up on the board." Eddie was smiling with pride as he watched the flames lick higher and higher.

Darvarus and Jackson walked over to Carl and Eddie.

"We need to get an alert out on two women that dumped the body." Jackson told them. He then flipped his note pad to where he had written down the descriptions of Lula and Stephanie and started giving out everything.

"Wait a second. You can't believe either one of these women actually dumped a body." Eddie said in disbelief to what he was hearing.

Jackson then informed them of what had taken place this morning, he continued explaining the importance of the message being left inside the apartment. He told them about how the body was displayed and that Stephanie and Lula were the only ones in the room with the body when they had entered in their process of rearranging the message for the kid. Darvarus explained that if they weren't guilty then they shouldn't have ran if they had a real reason to be inside the apartment.

Eddie shook his head, "Of course she's going to run away if you start shooting at her. Look, you just don't understand. I bet you a phone call was made and they reported this in." Eddie touched his mic on the two way that was attached to his shoulder to get in touch with the dispatch. He asked for dispatch to check on calls coming in concerning what had happened on Desmond. When dispatch came back with a negative, he sent back to get in touch with Morelli and see what time Stephanie had called him. Eddie was certain if Stephanie didn't call it in to dispatch, she would have called it in to Morelli.

The mic squacked on Eddie's shoulder, "Morelli received a call, forty minutes ago at 9:38am. Miss Plum and Miss Fletcher reported that a body was inside the apartment. Morelli also stated that if Mr. Jackson would check his cell phone he left a message at 9:45am leaving Mr. Jackson the information."

"Not your perps." Carl stated grinning.

Eddie nodded, "My cousin-in-law isn't who you are looking for." Eddie said possessively.

"We still need to talk to them. They could have seen who did drop off the body, they shouldn't have ran so that it looked so suspicious." Darvarus stated.

"We'll see if we can find them." Carl said and punched Eddie in the shoulder and nodded in the opposite direction.

Eddie walked a ways with Carl so they wouldn't be over head.

"This doesn't sound like Steph. Steph never ran away before. We didn't even get to tease her about the body and the explosion. Upsets my day." Carl said.

"I know." Eddie shook his head, "Steph has been getting worse since the kidnapping and the shooting. I tried telling Joe, he wouldn't listen to me. Steph has been getting worse with her skips, and the last time I was at her apartment a few weeks back she had prescription sleeping medication in her medicine cabinet. She keeps telling me nothing is wrong, she's in denial."

Carl shook his head, "I hate seeing her like this. I know I haven't known her as long as you have Eddie, but we dated for awhile after Orr, I knew I was a rebound guy, but with her, I didn't mind being a rebound guy. She was a hell of a lot of fun even after Orr screwed her over."

"I think she needs some friendly intervention." Eddie said with a big grin on his face.

"What about Morelli?" Carl asked. "He'll go ape shit with your type of intervention, if I think I know what your planning."

Eddie grinned even more, "Joe will just have to understand. I'm not seeing my cousin-in-law go down this road anymore. I want my best friend back to what she was like when she first started this job. The one I helped teach how to shoot, the one who used to be in control of her life, before life started spinning her in a whirlwind of beautiful disasters."

Carl smiled, "I liked that Stephanie, that Stephanie was fun, we were still going out dancing every now and then. I see her there underneath this wall she's built up. She needs a shove to come back out of hiding."

Eddie nodded, "I'll call Mary Lou. This may take a little bit of time and planning. And with Mary Lou in on it, you know we'll talk some sense back into her."

At 2:30pm that afternoon Lester knocked on the door to the apartment across from his at headquarters. He had woken Alex up only two hours ago to make sure she was fed and medicated again. He leaned on the wall beside the door, he knocked again two minutes later. _Three minutes! That is all she's getting then I'm going in._ Lester thought. A few minutes later the door was opened up and Lester stayed where he was. Lester noted she looked drugged out more than what she had at lunch time, her eyes not really focusing on anything at all.

Alex turned her head to look at Lester and felt the drug induced weight feeling that sat over her brain. Her eyes blinked a few times and her brows furrowed. "What?"

"We need to leave for your meeting with Jamie." Lester told her.

Alex breathed in deeply, _I shouldn't have taken that extra pill. _Her thought process was slow and sluggish. Alex only caught a few of the words. "What?"

Lester grinned at her, she was going to be easy to handle now. Her speech wasn't too slurred but it was slowed down considerably. "Your meeting, with your probation officer." Lester told her and stood away from the wall when Tank approached them.

"Miss Ramono, are you ready?" Tank asked.

"The meeting." Alex said fully in the drugged stupor. _I got to ride over there, see Jamie. _She padded her pockets, "I don't have my keys."

Tank and Lester both raised their eyebrows. "Keys to what?" Lester asked with a half smile. She was totally out of it on this medication. He filed this away in the back of his mind.

"To my bike, so I can ride over." Alex said.

Tank looked at Lester, "How much meds did she take after lunch?"

Lester shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure, she wouldn't let me near the medication at lunch."

_One, I think, _Alex thought, _two, or three, I don't remember. No pain in my ribs. This is good. Maybe, still so sleepy._ Alex leaned up against the open door and started slowly sliding down it.

Both Tank and Lester reached for her at the same time. Tank got her by her left arm as Lester got her right. "Next time, make sure you know. She wasn't like this on them before lunch."

"It is easy to find out how many, we'll just count them." Lester said as he reached around and found the pocket that had a slight bulge in it and pulled the bottle out and read the label, he placed the antibiotic bottle under his chin and went digging in Alex's pocket again.

"What are you doing?" Alex got out slowly.

"He's just getting the pain medicine." Tank said.

Lester pulled out the pain medication bottle and then he pulled the other bottle out from under his chin. "You got her?"

"Yes." Tank said and then pulled Alex closer to him so more of his body was supporting her weight so she wouldn't go sliding to the floor.

Lester pocketed the antibiotic and then opened the pain med and started counting pills. "She's down four. No more than what she should be down." He looked up at Tank and shrugged his shoulder. He replaced the pills and closed the bottle and put that in his pocket.

Tank's brow furrowed and thought back to what Stephanie had said, "She took an extra pill, she only had one the first time. That was what Stephanie said."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Lester said shaking his finger in front of Alex, "Naughty girl, I think I'll be keeping these for right now."

"Mine. Give them…" Alex started to say as she felt Tank start walking her out of room.

"They are yours, but you'll be getting them only when you are supposed too and not any extra." Tank told her, "Don't want you turning into no junkie."

Alex was shaking her head, "I'm not that. I'm not my mother." She growled out.

"We know you aren't." Lester said, "We just don't want you to get addicted to this."

Tank and Lester got her loaded in the SUV and Tank drove them over to the probation office, the ride over was quiet, Alex had fallen back asleep in the back seat. When they got there Tank parked and looked back at her.

"It would be better if we could let her sleep." Tank said.

"You think Jamie will meet her out here without us having to wake her up?" Lester asked.

"Worth a try. Sit tight." Tank told him and got out. He went inside and introduced himself and told Jamie that Alex was outside and explained that she was medicated because of her injuries.

Jamie Moore ran a hand through his wavy brown hair. "Okay, this is very unorthadox. I'll see her outside." Jamie grabbed the file on Alex and a pen and followed Tank back to the SUV. "We need to wait for Sharlene, she'll be very angry if she doesn't get to see Alex. I've been on the phone with her half the afternoon while she's been filing motions on behalf of her."

"Filing what motions?" Tank asked as they walked down the stairs. "Sharlene who?"

"Sharlene Tarlton, she Alex's lawyer. She's filing motions on making Alex an emancipated minor." Jamie stopped and touched Tank's arm to make him stop. "Exactly how long has Alex been with you Mr. Baker?"

"We found her in a situation late last night. She got away from us and we picked her back up again this morning. Why? Why is her lawyer filing for emancipation? They have to have special circumstances for emancipation, and how can her lawyer file that without talking to her client first." Tank said.

"I received a phone call at eleven this morning from Detective Lebeau in the homicide section of the Trenton Police Department. He's wanting Alex for questioning, her mother was found dead in her bedroom this morning. I called Sharlene immediately after I talked with him. Sharlene has been working on emancipation for Alex for the last two months." Jamie told him. "How much trouble is Alex really in?"

Tank could hear the concern in this man's voice. "Enough that the FBI want her as well." Tank shook his head. _Ranger isn't going to like this. _He shook his head no at the look on Jamie's face. "Not my story to tell."

Tank waved him on and Jamie left with Tank out to the front of the building and to the parking lot. The silver jag pulled into the lot and the car stopped on a dime into one of the vacant parking places. The door was opened, long slender legs appeared with black four inch heels. Tank watched as the woman exited the car, she was tall and dressed in a silver business suit. When Jamie had said Sharlene Tarlton, it hadn't registered. It did now as he saw. "Holy Shit! How did Alex get her for a lawyer?"

The woman was an exceptional lawyer with a long number of kills behind her name. Ranger had been working with his own lawyer who had mentioned that he was retiring and he had been trying to get an interview so he could retain her.

"What Sharlene? She's doing it because I'm her brother. I asked her to take on Alex as a favor for me." Jamie told Tank.

Sharlene smiled at her brother as she walked up. "Where's Alex?"

Jamie chuckled. "You are all business." He looked at Tank, "Mr. Baker, this is my sister Sharlene Tarlton."

Tank extended his hand and shook Sharlene's. He looked from Jamie to Sharlene, you could tell they were related, same wavy brown hair, dark green eyes, but Sharlene had a lighter complexion.

"Pleasure," She turned back to Jamie, "And?"

"Mr. Baker was just now taking me to Alex." Jamie stated.

She looked at Tank, "Lead on Mr. Baker."

Tank escorted Jamie and his sister towards the SUV, Lester got out and Tank made the introductions all around. Sharlene was looking in the SUV along with Jamie. "What exactly has happened to my client?"

"You better ask Alex that. I'm not sure how responsive she'll be considering she is on pain medication." Tank told her.

Lester opened the rear door and allowed Sharlene to wake Alex. "Caitlyn, wake up."

Alex opened her eyes at hearing her first name. Only one person used her first name. "Hey." Alex sat up more and winced some.

"How extensive are her injuries?" Sharlene asked looking back towards Tank and Lester.

Tank looked to Lester and then looked back to Sharlene, "We weren't with her when she visited the doctor. She did that on her own before we had her in custody."

Sharlene looked back to Alex, "What did the doctor tell you?" she asked Alex.

"I…" Alex shook her head trying to clear it. "Bruised all over, possible broken ribs, nothing I haven't had before."

Sharlene looked at Tank and then Lester, "Are you two overmedicating my client?" She asked.

"No." Lester told her, "She wouldn't let us touch her meds, we didn't find out until right before we brought her that she had taken an extra pill. She can't do that now." Lester told her as he patted his bulging pocket.

"Very well." She looked at Jamie, "Hand me the folder." Sharlene signed her name to it. Then handed it back to Jamie. She looked at Lester, "I'm holding you responsible, I want my clients medical records from where she received care. I want it Monday morning. You have four days, by that time, I want my client coherent enough to go into court. She's seeing a family judge at 11:30am, she'll have her emancipation hearing. If any detectives or anyone tries to talk to her without me present I'll nail their asses to the wall."

Lester nodded, "Yes ma'am."

Sharlene looked at Alex, "I have scheduled the court date, this family judge will give you what you want. I've already talked to Jim and have changed all the child divorce papers to emancipation papers and have them all filed. We'll worry about signatures on Monday, stay with Mr. Santos and Mr. Baker."

She turned to them and asked Lester to follow her to her car. Lester didn't need to be asked twice. While they went to her car, Jamie talked with Alex enough to get out of her that missing her probation meeting wasn't because she didn't want to come but couldn't get in to see him.

Sharlene looked at Lester, "Caitlyn doesn't know her mother is dead. She won't be allowed back into the apartment to get her things out until Monday. If I find out any of you in the company you work for has mistreated her while she is in your custody I'll make sure that business goes down."

"Miss Ramono will be well taken care of, no one will mistreat her at Rangeman, I assure you." Lester told her.

Sharlene opened her door and then slid into the car and looked back up to Lester, "Rangeman? Is the owner looking for a new lawyer?"

"Yes ma'am." Lester stated.

Sharlene grinned, "Don't disappoint me, and your boss may just find himself a new lawyer." She shut the door, started the car, and then drove off.

Lester watched her drive off, "Scary!"

He headed back to the SUV. Alex was signing the file as he came back up.

"Okay Miss Ramono, you are in Sharlene's hands until October 10th now. She can't push the court date back anymore than that, and you are off of pre-trial probation. Don't be a stranger." Jamie told her.

"I won't." Alex said her head was clearing up more but she still felt drugged.

Jamie said goodbye to Tank and Lester. Lester shut the door, "She'll be Ranger's lawyer as long as I do what she asked."

Tank looked at Lester, "What did she ask you to do?"

"Everything Ranger expects me to do with Alex already." Lester told him.

"Better do it then." Tank said and they climbed in the SUV and headed back to Rangeman.


	12. Chapter 12

It was Saturday morning. Ranger had been away for forty-eight hours. He was still finding it hard to believe at times at how wealthy his brother really was. Jose Manoso started writing novels while he was in college. Jose had several pen names he wrote under. Ranger picked up the coffee cup and took another sip.

"So, are you going back today?" Jose asked as he finished up his second cup of coffee.

"I'll be leaving shortly." Ranger told him.

"Good, not that I don't mind having you here." Jose told him with a grin, "but I would really like for you to give that message to Alex for me."

Ranger stared at his brother, Jose had grilled him for hours over the last two days. Ranger knew he was fodder for his brother's mystery novels. "I don't think she'll want to be subjected to all the questioning you'll be putting her through."

Jose smiled, "You let me worry about that. She won't complain after she sees the royalties for just ideas she'll give me. I don't hear you complaining."

Ranger stood from the breakfast room table and turned his back to his brother walking over to the picture window. Outside the window housed his brother's vast floral gardens. He couldn't complain, he made decent money from his brother and had placed that money in stocks and bonds.

"I have a bone to pick with you," Ranger turned back around, "Why did you let Scarsdale have Jessica in that last novel?"

Scarsdale was the fictional character his brother had created from the real life Ranger. Ranger knew Jessica was Stephanie's counterpart in the book and Scarsdale's partner. Ranger had spoken about Stephanie so much, Jose had brought her into his fiction world.

Jose twirled the coffee cup around the table, "I was wondering when you where going to get around to asking me that. What's wrong Carlos? Afraid I'm moving your fictional self along to quickly?"

"No, Scarsdale is not right for her partner." Ranger told him.

"Bullshit!" Jose stood up. He grabbed the coffee cup he had been playing with and headed out of the breakfast room towards the kitchen, "come with me."

Ranger followed his brother after he dumped his own coffee cup in the kitchen following his brother's example. Ranger followed his brother wondering where Jose was taking him in the 8,000 square foot Manor House. Jose had moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, three years ago. After the Scarsdale series had taken off with a flourish and surpassed even Jose's dreams. It was the introduction of Jessica in the series that had sent this novel series over the top, the lone female inside Scarsdale's group of men who had caused mayhem and madness. Stephanie had caused plenty of that in Ranger's own life.

Jose stopped at the door to his personal writing space. He normally didn't allow anyone inside, but he wanted Ranger to see what he saw. Jose opened the door and motioned him inside. Ranger stepped inside the room. It was a very large study, bookshelves lined one wall from ceiling to floor, file cabinets along another wall behind a monstrous desk. Jose walked passed Ranger and around the desk till he was at the file cabinets.

"The first file cabinet is all the memories I wrote down while we were growing up. Memories from our neighborhood. The second file cabinet is about leaving home, growing up, and moving on with my life." Jose turned and looked at him, "The other eight are all on you, and my life isn't as exciting as yours. The first four are just with you and the guys. I started it when you got out of the Army. The last four have been when Stephanie Plum entered your life."

He moved to behind the desk, but didn't sit down, "One year for each of the last four file cabinets. I feel I know Stephanie as well as you do, even if I don't have carnal knowledge of her. I've never met her." He moved back around the desk towards Ranger, "She has enriched your life just as much as her fictional character has enriched Scarsdale's life. Stephanie is right for you. Because Jessica is right for Scarsdale. You've talked more to me in the last four years than you have since you left the Army. She's made you laugh more in those years. Scarsdale was wandering through life in the books until he met his partner and found a purpose. You found a purpose, open your eyes and see it Carlos. Jessica is right for his partner because he allowed his partner to learn how to fly on her own. He taught her how to fly."

He put his hand on Ranger's shoulder, "Teach Stephanie to fly, Carlos. Stephanie is craving to learn how. She's falling right now out of control because you haven't taken the time to teach her to fly."

Ranger walked to the window in the room and looked out. "This isn't Jessica, Jessica you can manipulate on paper, and she acts the way you want her too. Things just happen around Stephanie."

"Give her the tools to deal with them." Jose stated.

"I'm afraid of what she'll do if she has them." Ranger told him and turned around and leaned against the window crossing his arms across his chest. "She hasn't learned to control what she has in her arsenal right now."

"Doesn't mean she can't learn, she needs a push to do it." Jose sat on the corner of his desk swinging the leg that was now raised off the floor. "Quit holding her hand and release her, but be damned sure you give her the rest of the tools she needs."

"She has too many problems controlling her skips. Take Alex. She never had control of her." Ranger threw out.

Jose barked out laughing, "Little brother, neither one of you had control over Alex. I doubt anyone ever will unless she allows it."

Ranger hung his head down to his chest. _Why is he always so damn right? I don't have control over Alex, it only appears that I have it. If he's right about Alex, could he be right about Stephanie as well?_

Ranger pushed off from the window ledge. "I have to go. I need to check-in. I was only going to stay for 24 hours, just ended up being 48."

"I'll walk you out." Jose said standing up and then followed his brother out of the room. "Go back and read the books. See if I'm wrong." Jose told him with seeing the expression on Ranger's face.

"I'll read them." Ranger stated.

On Thursday at 5:00pm was when Tank found out Lula was mad at him. She had not called his cell phone, and she had left a message on his apartment phone. He had driven over to Lula's house and discovered she had packed up some clothes and there was no sign of her. Her car was in the lot. Tank had reached Rangeman at 5:30 and found out that Bobby was missing. He was logging in the phones and noticed Bobby's phone had logged it self out sometime that morning. There were no signals at all from it. It was fine while he was at Stephanie's apartment, but he noticed the logged in call and ping for a phone trace. After two hours the phone went totally dead. He checked the log on the Bronco which Bobby had been driving and it went totally dead at the same time as the phone. The last readout put him in Point Pleasant. Tank knew Bobby was babysitting Stephanie and if Bobby was missing, that meant Stephanie was missing. At 6:45pm Tank had called Morelli. After he got off the phone with Morelli, Tank was more worried than ever about Lula and Stephanie. Bobby was a complete mystery.

Friday morning, Tank had all the men scrambling to find all three of them. They had found the Bronco and the phone, but nothing else. Tank had called Ranger's cell even though he knew it would be off and left a message. He normally checked in after twenty-four hours. When Saturday morning rolled around, Tank was frantic, his beard growth was coming in fairly well and he hadn't slept since he found out three people in his life were missing.

Alex had watched for the last two days the men in the place being worried with almost panic in their eyes. Lester had stayed with her, but she could tell he was itching to do something about his missing friends. She was sitting in the break room along with Lester and Tank. Lester was looking at Tank frowning. He had been trying to convince Tank to get some sleep and Tank kept shaking his head.

"I can't, you know I can't. Not until Ranger gets back." Tank told him. Tank had his elbows on the table and his hands digging into his scalp as he was talking.

"Just a few hours, let me do something at least." Lester told him.

Tank looked up and pointed to Alex, "You have to stay with Alex."

Alex was watching them both, they had this argument yesterday. She could see how bad staying with her was effecting Lester when he really wanted to help. After Thursday's bout with the pain medication, Alex had foregone any yesterday and Lester had finally relented with her not taking anymore. She didn't like the fact Lester could get closer to her while she was on the pain medication, it dulled her senses and she needed to have her wits about her around him. She had found him irritating, more irritating now that she felt she was holding him back from what he had been wanting to do.

"No he doesn't." Alex told Tank.

"Yes, he does," Tank looked up. "Even Sharlene put him in charge of you till Monday."

"Fine, he'll be with me till Monday then." Alex stood up and then pulled on Lester's shirt as she passed behind him. "Come on."

Lester felt his shirt being tugged, this was the first time she had even came close to him in the past two days. He stood up and left the break room with her. He followed her till she reached her room and opened the door and went in leaving the door open. Lester stopped at the threshold of the door. "What are you planning?" He asked.

"If you want to look for your friends, then just take me with you." Alex told him.

Leaning on the doorframe Lester watched her closely, she was actually talking to him instead of bickering at him like she did yesterday over the medication. "Why are you volunteering to do this?"

"Because Tank isn't letting you go because of me. If I wasn't in the picture you would have already been out there looking for your friends." Alex told him. She had listened to the guys talking in low voices anytime they came around Tank or Lester. Alex had picked up yesterday that Lula was Tank's girlfriend, that Bobby was thick as thieves with Lester, Tank and Ranger, and that Stephanie meant more to Ranger than he had let on. "If Stephanie hadn't been given my bond none of you would be in this position. That was my mother they found dead in my bedroom. Ranger wouldn't have even argued with Stephanie because of me." Alex had found out about her mother because she had overheard some of the guys talking when she had gone into the break room alone. It was the same time she found out about Ranger and Stephanie arguing.

Lester moved away from the doorframe and strode into the room and stood right in front her looking down at her. "Fine, you want to take responsibilities for your actions then I'll let you. One, you will wear an ankle bracelet with tracking on it. Two, you will not be allowed away from me more than five feet. When I give you a command you follow it without question."

Alex drew up to her full height. Even at five foot five, she only came up to his chin, she looked up at him. She had stayed away from him on purpose because of feeling certain desires within her body. She couldn't help it that she was attracted to him, her body had a mind of it's own. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Why don't you just put me in a fucking kennel then."

Lester stared into her dark blue eyes with his deep green ones, "If you are going to act like a bitch then I'll treat you like one. Until I can trust you, then your leash will stay as tight as I wish it."

"Is it your wish I call you master as well?" Alex asked in a waspish tone.

_Only in my bed, _Lester thought. "Do you really want the answer to that question?"

Alex's eyes darted from his green ones to his mouth and then back up. _Hell no! Damn I need to watch my tongue,_ Alex thought. She made herself keep her eyes only on his. "No, sir." She spat out with venom.

Lester had seen her eyes dart to his mouth, and could see the anger that was coursing through her body, the vein on her neck was bulging from the build up of the fast and furious blood flow, he could tell her heart was racing as he saw each twitch of the vein. He watched as her nostrils flared slightly while she drew in her breath. "Then I suggest you start getting your emotions under control." _I better keep mine in check, damn good thing I've had a lot of practice at it,_ Lester thought.

Alex could hear his breath as it hissed through his nose as he drew it in. _Fucking shit! He's just as angry as I am, or at least near the edge of it, _Alex thought.

She grabbed him by the balls and twisted grinding his sack up and back. Lester was now looking eye to eye with her, hissing through his grinding teeth with intensity from the pain. "I will, if you will."

Lester grabbed her wrist and squeezed hard cutting off the blood flow to her hand in order to relieve the pressure from his balls. "You fucking little bitch." When her hand released his sack, Lester flung it away and walked out of her room slamming the door behind him and held onto the knob as he drew in deep breaths willing his self to think of anything but the pain she just put him through. His head was leaning on the door when Tank walked by.

"What happened?" Tank asked sourly.

"I need that new ankle tracker, the one that was modified with the electric current running through it. I think it's time it had a test drive." Lester said slowly as he got his self under control.

Tank watched as Lester calmed himself, he wouldn't ask for anything like that unless he really needed it. "Do you want me to set it?"

"I'll set it. I deserve to set this. It's my God given right to set it." Lester told him. "She needs to be taken down a notch before she does something that will get her hurt."

Tank nodded, "Very well. She's just as stubborn as Ranger is, and I haven't seen her cower yet to anything. She has no fear, intimidation won't work with her Lester." Tank knew Lester, he figured he would have done something of that nature, they all jumped to intimidation first when wanting someone to cower and do their bidding. "You have to remember where she comes from. Remember that she has fought for everything she has, if you are going to do this, don't give her an inch because she'll take a mile from you. She'll do it with anyone of us."

Lester watched as Tank walked away to go get the ankle monitor. That was twice now that Alex had gotten the best of him. Lester decided she wasn't getting away with anything else, not if he could help it. Even if he had to plot out every move he made painstakingly slow he would do it.

Tank came back with the monitor and the receiver, and he handed them to Lester. "Do you want me to put it on her?"

"She knows its coming. I'll put it on her, if she does anything I'll walk to the length of the zoning on it and step out of it." Lester told him.

"Just don't zap her for the hell of it. I know I would be itching to do it myself if she had fucked with me the way she's fucking around with you. Remember she is still hurt, so don't set the voltage too high." Tank told him as he was watching Lester set the limit to five feet and set the voltage to level five then he lowered it to three when heard what Tank had said.

He looked back up at Tank, "It won't hurt her, but will make her think twice before she does anything again."

"You still didn't tell me why she stopped taking the pain medication." Tank said.

"She won't tell me why she stopped taking it," Lester said as he clamped the receiver around his wrist and fastened it in place. "I think it's because she doesn't like the feeling of not being in control. Ranger is the same way when it comes to that, it has taken him years to work that out." _While she was on the pain medication I could get near her, since yesterday if I came within six feet of her she was on her guard. She doesn't trust a damn soul,_ Lester thought.


	13. Chapter 13

_"He should have had back up to go in with him," a younger Carlos whispered over to Captain Steven Santos. Carlos was dressed in dark black fatigues like the rest of the group, only the insignias on the sides of the shirts showed ranks._

_"You think I wanted to send my little brother in there alone," Steven hissed back in a whisper, "He's the ferret in this group and you know it." _

_Carlos kept looking through the lenses which cast a green hue around the village that was in war torn Bosnia. "I know that, but I still can't see him."_

_Tank looked from Carlos to Steven. Steven hadn't led them wrong before. Tank started to feel that heavy feeling, Lester should have come back by now. He shifted his weight on his elbows as he moved his body forward staying low to the stone roof.. Off in the distance explosions were heard, the vibrations reaching them from their perch up on the roof of a coarse stone house. Smoke and fire clogged the night warm air, making breathing seem impossible. Bobby was beside him looking with a pair of night goggles as well, both searching for any sign of Lester._

_"He'll be back."_

_Tank could hear the frustration in Steven's voice as he was willing that Lester return. Bobby hit Tank on the arm, "3:00 o'clock," and handed him the night goggles. Tank looked through them, he could see the dark and lighter grey patches showing up against the building that had been gutted from a bomb only a few hours earlier. _

_Carlos swung his pair and looked that way as well, "It's him."_

_They could all seen him as he slinked his way back to them, he slung the riffle around his back and grabbing the holds on the pipe he started climbing his way up. Carlos reached his hand over the edge and pulled Lester up along with Tank._

_Lester came up and then lay down on his back catching his breath, "We're stuck here. The lines have switched hands."_

_"How many?"_

_"Hundred at least." Lester panted out telling his brother._

_Steven looked back out, their troops were on the other side of this line, "What about Major Fuentes?" _

_"Dead."_

_"Fuck!" Steven hissed._

_Carlos rolled back on his stomach and moved towards the edge of the building, "We can't just sit here all night Steven." _

_"I know. Fuentes wasn't good," Steven told him._

_"We need to get out of here, we can't help Fuentes being dead. This operation never should have happened, I still have that bad feeling Steven." Carlos said._

_"Agreed, not just here but out of the whole damn Army." Steven looked over to Carlos, "Let's get a business together." _

_Carlos looked at him and grinned, "I get to call the shots on the outside."_

_"I'll gladly give up this torch to you." Steven smiled, "We'll have to find something we'll all be good at." _

_"Bounty hunting. I always wanted to go find the bad guys." Lester told them. _

_"You do enough of that now." Bobby said._

_They all had a little laugh, a little peace of heaven in a war torn night. "Lester gets to find them, I get to take them down." Tank said._

_"Me as well," Bobby threw in._

_"Okay, that leaves me with shit to do but spend all the money." Steven said, "Come on, let's get the hell out of here." Steven went over to Lester, "Okay ferret, sniff us a hole out of this dead zone."_

Tank bolted awake at the pain in his head from hitting the table in the break room. His phone started chirping, and he answered it, feeling the pain in his chest at seeing Steven in his dreams. "Yes."

"What the hell is going on Tank?" Ranger asked.

"Stephanie and Lula are in the wind, explosion, dead body, normal sort of shit, but only they ran from the FBI. The feds are after them. We haven't been able to find them at all." Tank told him.

"Where the fuck is Bobby? I left Bobby with Stephanie." Ranger growled out.

Tank put his head in his hands, "We can't find Bobby, Bobby has vanished."

_Stephanie finds dead bodies, Stephanie blows things up, Stephanie always has someone after her this is typical Stephanie. Stephanie in the wind? Stephanie isn't that good at being the wind, a tornado, I'll give her that. Stephanie where the fuck are you? Bobby vanished? _Ranger gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles white, his breathing ragged. "What? This is not possible."

"Carlos, I'm telling you. I can't find them anywhere."

_I hate when he calls me Carlos, because it means he really can't. Stephanie got away from Bobby. I'm going to kill him, he knows how much she means to me so now he goes and fucking pulls this shit._ "What do we know?" Ranger asked as he let his right foot go all the way to the floor. _All because he knows I would hurt his ass._

"The Bronco smelled like shit we aren't even sure what is all over the driver seat. Bobby's cell was covered in chocolate. The Bronco and the phone were left in Point Pleasant. I have had people all over that place today and we haven't found them. That is Bobby's last known location." Tank told him.

"Was the Bronco left at Vinnie's place?"

"No, it was left near the boardwalk, the phone inside on the passenger seat. We found the distributor cap under the passenger side seat." Tank told him.

_Passenger, on the passenger side. What is Bobby trying to say? _Ranger didn't want to think about this, this brought up too many memories. Too many memories of Bosnia, Bobby was giving him clues. Steven had thought them to leave clues that only they would understand, what may have appeared normal to someone else or left hap hazardly wasn't really done so in their group.

Lester pulled into his and Bobby's apartment complex. He had found the five feet to stay around Alex quite challenging. He was so used to walking around the back side of the SUVs and found out that it was further than five feet. Alex had felt the jolt hit her left leg and it had caused a cramping in her calf muscle along with an electrical tingle that had ran right up along her nerve line in her leg and ended in her left gluteus maximus. Alex still had her left foot up on the dashboard and was stretching her left calf. Lester looked over to her after he shut off the SUV.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that on purpose." Lester told her for the second time. For his efforts she glared at him again. "Give me your leg."

"No." Alex told him and opened her door. She was about to head out and looked back at Lester. "Are you getting out?"

Lester opened his door and paused looking at the distance between them. "I think you better follow me."

Alex held onto her door, then studied the distance and slammed the door shut and climbed to the center between the seats and had her hand on the steering wheel. Lester was standing outside the SUV and extended his hand to help her climb over the front seat and out.

"I don't need your help. Just back up." Lester started backing up. _Let's see how well she's paying attention. I'm not going to stop, _Lester thought. Alex had just climbed over the front seat and glanced up at him. Alex's heart had picked up it's pace at seeing him backing up, and he was slowly going and going, "STOP!"

Lester halted, he had seen the slight, very slight, hesitation of panic at knowing what would be coming before she had yelled at him. _She doesn't like pain, yet she's still won't take any of her pain medication._ "I thought you enjoyed pain, I thought it could be some fetish of yours."

Alex came out of the SUV and slammed the door. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. _Don't rise to that bait, it is none of his damn business what fetishes I have, I'd rather feel the pain than be dull witted around him. He just proved I can't relax my guard,_ Alex thought. She moved over to the sidewalk making sure she stayed within the five feet and waited to see if he was going to move.

Lester looked at her when she didn't respond, she always had a come back. His brow furrowed as he came up to the sidewalk which she put distance back between them. "Why won't you take your pain meds?"

"I'm fine without them." Alex told him, "Besides, aren't we supposed to be looking for your friends. My business is my business, now go about yours."

Lester watched her face, her eyes were wary of him. _Fuck! Not good Lester, stupid, that was so totally fucking stupid to pull something like that with her right now. Just because she bruised my ego and hurt my pride doesn't give me the right to play with her like this,_ Lester thought. "Mine and Bobby's apartment is back to the right, it's upstairs, on the left." He turned to his right and started walking slowly with his hands in his pockets as he glanced back to see if she was following him.

Alex watched him carefully and noticed he had slowed his pace more than what it had previously been at Rangeman. She still stayed behind him as much as she dared. Lester paused in front of the apartment door and unlocked the door and pushed it open. The stench from the foyer smelled foul. Lester looked down at the linoleum and noticed the dried stains on the floor. Alex covered her face up past her nose with the t-shirt she had on.

"Yes, it's rank. But I'd say Bobby was here. The Bronco smelled foul when they brought it back." Lester told her. "Come on. I need to walk room from room."

Alex followed him without saying a word into the foyer and then he stopped and looked at the linoleum again, bending down he found a red trash bag tie. Lester picked it up, it hadn't been used, just looked like it fell out of the bag. Lester moved off to the kitchen and opened the pantry and found the trash bag box that had been opened up. It was new box, he knew, because he had bought it only three days ago and he had placed the last bag in the kitchen trashcan himself. The top of the box was left on the shelf beside the box. Bobby didn't throw the top away. _Bobby throws everything away, why leave that out?_

Lester picked up the top of the trash bag box and took it with him. Alex watched and followed him from room to room. The bathroom was interesting, it looked like someone took it apart, at least the shower curtain. Lester opened the cabinet, one towel was missing, and he found it in the hamper inside Bobby's room. Lester sat down on Bobby's bed and looked at the trash tie and the box top.

Alex looked at him like he had lost his mind turning over those two objects in his hand. _What is he doing? It's just trash, _Alex thought. She looked around the room and not finding anywhere to sit other than the bed she decided to sit where she was on the floor.

Lester looked up at her, "We could go in the living room. You'll be more comfortable."

"I'm fine." Alex told him and then stretched her legs out in front of her stretched down towards her toes as far as she could go till the pain in her ribs wouldn't let her go any further. It was helping with her back muscles that had become stiff over the last two days with not stretching out.

Lester watched her for a moment then lay the tie and the box top beside him on the bed and leaned back and left his feet on the floor. _The bathroom curtain looks like shit, but that could be because he was pissed or in a hurry. He's done that before, he was pissed, he had to have been pissed. He had told Zero Stephanie tossed his phone out the window. That wouldn't have pissed him off. Losing Stephanie would have pissed him off. But he had to find the phone, Stephanie did something to his phone. Trash tie, box top, _Lester thought and then started laughing. "She threw his phone in the dumpster."

Lester sat up and looked at Alex who was now in the Chinese splits and had her eyebrows raised at him. "How do you know that is what happened?" Alex asked him.

He picked up the tie and top of the box top, "Bobby called Zero and said Stephanie threw his phone out the window. If that would have happened, Bobby would still not have left Stephanie alone, not even to retrieve the phone. Stephanie took his phone and she threw it in the dumpster because she was pissed at him. Stephanie was in a mood that morning. You could see it in her body language and hear it in her voice. You were in the bathroom with Ranger and wouldn't have noticed." Lester stood up, "Let's go, we have a trip to take to the shore."

"What about the shower curtain?" Alex said standing back up looking at Lester curiously. She couldn't help it, she was curious as to how he was figuring this out.

"He was pissed off, he's done that before when someone has pissed him off. The shower curtain wasn't the clue." Lester told her.

Alex followed Lester out of Bobby's bedroom. "Why would he leave clues anyway for someone to figure out his phone was dumped off?"

Lester stopped and turned quickly, Alex stopped and backed up a few paces having not expected him to do that. "Because we were taught too, in a life or death situation, you leave clues. You leave them so someone can find you, but only the people you want finding you."

Alex could hear the hurt in his voice, "Did Ranger teach you this stuff?"

Lester closed his eyes, "My older brother did, and it saved our lives more than once." He opened them back up. "People leave clues all the time. You just have to look for them. They don't even know they do it, but crime scene techs have learned to find them and use them to put people behind bars. When we leave our clues behind, they are done for a reason, they are done because it's something that we normally wouldn't do and it stands out for people who know us."

"Why can't you just call your brother and get him to come do this happy little trash treasure hunt?" Alex asked.

"The last time any of us saw my brother was in Bosnia, he's missing in action." Lester turned and started walking out of the apartment.

Alex watched him walk away and then she sped up real quick to catch up so she wouldn't get shocked. She saw his shoulders were slumped more so than when he had been attempting to shock her earlier outside. "Can you actually prove she tossed Bobby's phone in the dumpster?"

Lester walked to the front door, "Yes, I can. I'll show you." He knew Bobby wouldn't have kept those clothes. He knew Bobby would have tossed him. Their dumpster pick up was scheduled for tomorrow.

Alex followed him back outside. All of this was a little too hard for her to fathom to be totally accurate because of a trash bag box top and a trash bag tie. She followed Lester all the way outside to a dumpster. He paused at it and scanned the bags. He was looking for the bags with the red ties. Most all of them where white. Alex came closer than she had and peered over into the dumpster. "What are you looking for?"

"Black bag, red tie." Lester told her. He didn't see it and knew it had to be buried. He turned and looked at her. "How bad do you want that proof?"

Alex looked back inside the dumpster, "You don't expect me to go in that thing do you?"

Lester grinned at her, "It's in there, I'll stake my life on it." _Bobby you better have thrown them away, I know you are picky about your clothes, I've seen you throw them away when one of your dates has gotten drunk and thrown up on you,_ Lester thought.


	14. Chapter 14

Alex walked closer to the dumpster and looked over the ledge of the open slide panel. _That is so gross, someone just tossed a diaper and didn't bag it, _Alex thought. "You're that sure?" Alex asked. She didn't bother to look at his face.

"A hundred percent." Lester told her, he could see the concentration on her face. She was only a foot away from him. He stayed still watching her as the resolve came across her face, he could tell she wasn't into going into that dumpster at all, but it looked like she was going to do it.

Alex placed her hands on the ledge where the forks of the lift of the garbage truck go in and then pushed herself up and had one foot on top of it in one swift motion. She pushed up with her foot and grabbed the metal at the top of the green metal box. She toed the diaper to the other side of the dumpster with her shoe. She breathed a sigh of relief seeing nothing was on her sneaker. Lester leaned over just enough so he could look inside and see if she had anything on her feet.

"I think you're going to have to move some bags." Lester told her, still grinning, only this time like a little boy who had his hand in the candy store display and knowing the payout was going to be huge.

Alex turned her head and was inches from his face. A faint musk smell was coming off of Lester that was overpowered by the smell of rotting debris in the bags of plastic. "You are really that sure that the proof will be in here."

"Trust me, it's in there. Black bag, red tie." Lester told her looking into her eyes, he could see she was searching his. _Come on Alex, you went into a pit and fought for your life and had no problems with it. Trust me, I really need you to trust me, _Lester thought.

Trust him? That was the problem, trusting men had only led to pain in my life. I don't know how many more times I can go out on that limb, Alex thought. She noticed the pleading in his eyes laced with something else. She wasn't sure what that something else was, she hated not knowing what it was. She hesitated and tore her eyes away from his looking back into the dumpster, his eyes were so intense. Taking a deep breath she went into the dumpster like she wanted to hold her breath as if she was underwater.

Lester let his breath out slowly and went to the opening and watched as she started moving bags around. Alex had moved most of the bags around on top, still not seeing the one black bag with a red tie. She had to breath a while back and decided even foul air was better than no air. She stepped and her right leg went in between two bags and sank to her knee. She heard the chuckle at the opening.

"Careful," Lester told her.

Alex flipped him her middle finger on her left hand, this gained her a guffaw. She started pulling her right leg out and felt the fluid of some substance start oozing into her sneakers. Alex hung her head down and groaned. "I just bought these damn shoes."

Lester bent over laughing. He didn't know what was going on under the bags, because he couldn't see, but he was pretty sure he could guess at it because of the disgusted noises she was making. Lester looked back inside and saw the green slime dripping from her shoe and what looked like to be covering the calf of her right gi bottom leg. This was so worth being taken down and put to sleep by you just to watch this, Lester thought. I get to enjoy this all to myself as well. I may have to tell a few people, Ranger, Tank, and Bobby. They would enjoy this.

Alex had a disgusted shiver run through her body that she had no control over. She wanted to throw something at him, she wanted to know if she could really trust him. Because the desire to trust him beat the desire to throw something at him she ignored the laughing and kept looking for the bag. After tossing several more bags out of her way she saw the small sliver of red tie. She had moved three bags to catch that small little sliver. Alex stepped to the left of the bag with the red tie onto a piece of cardboard with her left foot bent over while trying to keep her balance steady as she reached down and pulled at the bag. It was stuck. She growled in frustration and then moved a few other bags and reached again for the one she wanted. This time when she heaved it came flying up and she lost her footing and slid down into the hole she had just created.

Lester hopped up onto the ledge once she had went down where he couldn't see anything but her head. "You okay?"

"Define okay?"

Lester chuckled. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

She heaved the bag off of her back towards his voice. She turned around and saw that the bags she had fallen onto had some noxious white substance coating the outside of them, and they smelled sour.

Lester had caught the bag Bobby had thrown in two days before and pushed it out of the opening. He stood and saw Alex was in the corner of the dumpster and standing in the bottom of the dumpster. "I think he threw it in when it was empty." Lester started laughing again.

Alex flipped him off again, and grabbed at the bag hole she was in and pushed off with her hands and feet, she didn't gain ground at all. She had two bags fall back in on her trapping her feet, she pulled one leg free and looked around for a place she could hold onto.

Lester saw the bags go back down on her, he had his laugh, but she had to get out of this and get cleaned up. "Hang on, I'm coming." He hoisted himself up to the top and closed one of the top doors, if he did this just right he could reach out and grab her hands and hoist her up on the door with him.

He layed flat on his stomach and reached down and out in order to get to her. Alex reached and grabbed onto his wrist. Lester gave a tug, Alex's trapped foot came free, he pulled and felt her coming up to him. Alex didn't give her right hand to him, when he had her within reach of his shoulders, Alex pulled with her left arm and brought herself up and with her right arm she reached over his shoulders her fingers finding the loop in his cargo pants and then shifted her weight, she had seen where he leaned out to far and temptation just had to be given into after she had been laughed at so much. Lester flipped and both of them went back into the garbage. Alex was laughing.

Lester groaned as he felt the bag bust underneath him and soak the back of his clothes. He could hear her laughter, he looked over at her and then moved so he was above her with his feet on either side of her waist and he squatted down looking at her. Her eyes opened and looked up at him.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt every now and then if you actually allowed someone to help you once in awhile." He reached down and put his hands under her arm pits and hoisted her up to her feet, looking at the smile on her face. He hadn't seen her smile like that, or heard her ever laugh like that. She had a wicked grin, he had seen that plenty, first hand. But he preferred the smile that was on her face now.

"I didn't want to be the only one covered in filth." Alex told him chuckling again. "It was too tempting."

"You play with temptation too much and you'll get burned." Lester told her. He felt the urge to kiss her, but held that back, he had gained a position with her that was too precious and fragile. He didn't want to loose his new found footing with her.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Alex told him as she put her hands on his shoulder, put one foot on his knee and hoisted herself up and grabbed the top of the door that Lester had just came down from.

Lester watched as her body went up just inches from his face, the smell of sour milk and dirty diapers kept him from pulling her back down to him. He moved to the side shoving a few of the bags down and found a place where he could put his foot and hoisted himself up closer to the side and reached for the door edge and pulled himself up. He followed her down on the outside of the dumpster to where she was now squatting down beside the black bag and unwrapping the red trash tie. She opened it up and looked inside. The inside of the bag smelled as bad as she did. She pulled out the shirt and then shook her head.

"Bobby wouldn't keep the clothes he had on when he went inside that dumpster." Lester told her. He squatted down beside the bag in front of her, "Question now is are you willing to keep yours? Because you aren't getting into that SUV with what you have on. I'm not cleaning two vehicles because of dumpsters."

Alex looked down at herself and then back to him. "My clothes can be washed, has Bobby never heard of dry cleaning?"

"For Bobby, its easier for him to buy new." He took the shirt from her hand and put it back in the trash bag and then twisted the bag back up. He held his hand out for the tie. Alex placed it in his hand and Lester let his fingers play across the inside of her palm as he curled his fingers over the tie. He watched as her breath was drawn in, her chest rise quickly. He looked into her eyes and noticed the deep dark blue that he had seen two days ago when she had pinned him in the garage. Lester held his tongue back this time and tied the trash bag up, stood and then tossed the bag in the dumpster for the second time. "Let's get you cleaned up."

Twice she had showered and she still didn't smell clean. Alex had gone through a quarter of the shampoo on her head. The musky smell that she had smelled earlier that had come from Lester it was coming from the shower gel. She picked up the shower gel and looked at the bottle, Armani, Gio, it smelled like heaven to her. This was her third trip into the shower, Lester had her using the smaller bathroom off of his bedroom. He had used the other one after he had set it right again. Alex grabbed the robe for the third time, her body was now coated in the shower gel smell. She couldn't smell the dumpster anymore.

Lester was sitting up on his bed, pillows behind his back. He had already showered and changed. He had the foyer cleaned, the hall bathroom cleaned and back in order, and a trash bag of his and Alex's clothes together to be sent to the cleaners. His legs were stretched out and crossed in front of him when Alex came out of the bathroom with his terry cloth robe on. It hung all the way to her lower legs, and was way too big for her, but he liked seeing how it seemed to swallow her in it. Lester crooked his finger for her to come to him again, he had taken off the ankle monitor only so she could bathe. His bedroom door was locked, and he really didn't think she was just going to run away from him with no clothes on.

Alex took a deep breath and then walked over to Lester. She stood by the side of the bed when Lester grabbed the front of the robe and gave a yank and took a sniff of her hair. "Better." He said as he let go, "You finally lost the sour milk and dirty diaper smell."

I smell like you now, Alex thought. She stood back up, Lester hadn't released the robe, his fingers were still gripped in the front keeping both sides closed in the front. He moved his legs and placed them on either side of her body and stood up holding her in place. Don't do anything, please don't do anything. I don't want to loose my trust in you. "I need clothes," Alex told him looking down at his hand.

Lester could feel the tension between them. He was watching her head, she had yet to look up at him. She smells like me, why won't she look back up at me? She said she had played this game before. Someone has hurt her, she would look up, otherwise, Lester thought then sat back down and released the robe. "I'll get you some clothes in a minute. Who hurt you?"

Alex breathed a sigh of relief when he released the robe, then her heart started thumping in her chest. How can he know that? I didn't do anything that would give that away, did I? What did I do? How did he figure that out? Alex thought in desperation.

Lester watched her closely, saw her relief at being let go, but heard the hitch in her breath at being asked that question and saw her head glance to the door to the bedroom and then back, still not looking at him. He saw her finally look up at him after a few minutes.

"I've been fighting for my life for two weeks," Alex told him and stepped back away and looked at the dresser, she walked over to the dresser and started opening drawers.

"I'm not talking about being hurt that way, Alex." Lester said, he watched as she opened drawer after drawer not pulling anything out. Her nervous energy wanting an outlet and he stayed where he was. "You know what I'm asking, tell me."

I can't tell him, I haven't figured it all out myself yet, it was mistake, it was something I shouldn't have done. I was drinking, it was a fucking mistake, Alex thought. Her nervousness started turning into anger with herself for letting it be seen. She shoved the last drawer shut and turned and glared at him. "It was mistake, I was drunk, I slept with the wrong fucking man. Now get me some damn clothes!"

Lester could see her shake with anger, he knew if he pushed her too hard things would fall apart. He got up and walked over to his closet walking inside it looking for her something to wear that would stay on her and not totally fall off. That wound is fresh, it wasn't an old one, if it had been an old one she wouldn't be so angry with herself, Lester thought as he pulled a black polo shirt off the hanger that he knew was too tight for him in the chest now. He looked for the black workout pants he knew he had here that had a drawstring in them that could be tightened up. He came out of the closet and laid them on the bed. Going to his dresser he pulled out a pair of socks and tossed them over to the bed as well. Alex had walked over to the wall that he had with pictures hanging up of his military years along with pictures of his family. Lester picked up the ankle bracelet and walked over to her.

"Clothes are on the bed." He squatted down and slipped the ankle monitor back on. "I'll be back in five minutes, get dressed." He reset the receiver so she wouldn't get shocked when he walked out of the room.

Alex didn't look at him as he left, she waited till the door was shut before going over and putting on what he had pulled out.

Ranger had gotten off the phone with Tank about forty minutes ago. He had been pulled over twice for speeding, he still hadn't slowed his pace. The two tickets sat on the passenger seat beside him. It had been six years since he had to think about clues from one his team mates. Six long years, since the total disappearance of Steven. I'm missing something. The phone on the passenger seat, Bobby isn't in control of the situation. That's obvious, but who is? Is this the first set of clues or am I coming in at this at the wrong time?

Ranger flipped open his phone and dialed Lester.

"Yes," Lester said in a voice that was distracted and not really paying attention.

"What's going on?" Ranger asked him, "Alex do something that has you thinking that hard?"

Ranger could hear Lester breathe out real slowly, "It's not what she's done, it's what's been done to her. She blames herself for it though. Don't worry about her, she's fine and is on a leash, she isn't going anywhere. What do you need?"

Ranger digested what Lester said, "Did Bobby leave any clues anywhere else? I don't think the Bronco is the first chain of events."

"The chain starts in our apartment. Did Tank fill you in on the phone call with Zero?"

"Yes," Ranger told him and switched lanes to pass another car.

"Well, Stephanie took his phone and threw it in the dumpster. He had to go dumpster diving. I was thinking on the Bronco clues, Bobby isn't in control, the distributor cap is throwing me though. I don't think Bobby put that there. He wouldn't take anything off the Bronco." Lester said.

Ranger laughed at the image of Bobby going into a dumpster. Bobby was a compulsive neat freak. Serves him right, he must have pissed her off as much as I did, Ranger thought. He could hear Lester laughing on the other end. Ranger stopped laughing. "Okay, we have to get serious now. Someone didn't want the Bronco stolen, but why shut the tracking systems off?"

Lester stopped laughing, Ranger could hear a noise on the other end and then someone elses voice far away that sounded like Alex, "I'm dressed, can we get me some shoes now? I can't put the others back on." He could hear the edge in her voice, a slight anger underneath it.

"Yes, I'll buy you a new pair," Lester told her.

Dressed? Can't put the others on? When was she not dressed? Ranger thought, "Lester, what is going on between you and Alex?"


	15. Chapter 15

Lester heard what Ranger just asked, _what is going on between you and Alex? _Lester looked at Alex, he was attracted to her, he knew she was attracted to him. He had seen the signs, she was even flirting with him and teasing him on a certain level. _It has been all innocent teasing and flirting. She has been hurt and on a level that I can't do anything to cause her to go backwards. Nothing was going on between us accept for her learning how to trust me,_ Lester thought. Lester started walking down the hall towards the front door with Alex following him.

"Lester?" Ranger asked again, "If you have done anything…"

Lester didn't let Ranger finish out the threat, "I haven't done anything, Alex has a trust issue, she's learning she can trust me. That's what is going on." Lester told him as he reached the front door and opened it up.

"So she trusts you enough to be undressed around you?" Ranger snapped the question at him.

Lester gave a bark of laughter, "No, she wanted proof of the clues Bobby left in our apartment." Lester waited till Alex came out and then he locked up. "She went dumpster diving to find the proof about what I figured out. Trust factor is hanging on by a thin rope with her."

Ranger could hear both of them laughing. He had to chuckle to himself and he heard the sirens blaring behind him. "Damn it!" He started slowing down, "I'll call you back, I'm getting another speeding ticket." Ranger hung up.

Ranger made all the necessary lane changes to get over and slowed to a complete stop on the shoulder of the highway. _Fifteen miles, fifteen miles and I'd be back if it wasn't for the damn cop,_ Ranger thought. Ranger had made that drive plenty to and from, but this was the first time he had really had to be back in Trenton like it was yesterday. _I should have checked back in. No, I couldn't do that, I was stuck on Jose's damn Psych couch. Damn it Jose, why did you have to get that stupid PHD in criminal psychology._

Ranger watched as the Cranbury Station, New Jersey police officer stepped out of his cruiser and hoisted up his belt. _Lord! Is he going to take all day to shift that gut to get to my car?_ He saw the police officer start a slow trot as he came up on the driver's side of Ranger's BMW. The officer paused right before the back of the vehicle to peer inside. _I don't have anyone else in here, come on damn it, get it over with. Probably he has never seen a BMW in his damn life come through this middle of nowhere place._

Waiting a little while longer Ranger was finally graced with the police officer's presence at the driver's window.

"License and Registration. You are aware that you were traveling in excess of a hundred miles an hour." The police officer said in a southern twang. Ranger looked up, _Holy shit! I got pulled over by a fat Elvis Presley cop. The sideburns and all. _Ranger reached for the license and registration, and then handed them out the window for the man. He saw the ring on his right hand ring finger. A gold nugget ring that was in the shape of EP.

The police officer put the license and registration on the clip board and then radio'd into dispatch and read off the name and the number. "What was the rush?"

"I have an emergency with my company in Trenton and have to get back there." Ranger told him looking up at the officer's name badge which read Presley. Ranger looked away, he was trying so hard not to laugh now. _This is nuts, Elvis Presley is dead._ Ranger looked back at the badge one more time to make sure he wasn't seeing things the wrong way.

Stephanie was sitting at the table with Lula in their room at one of the casino hotels in Atlantic City. She was eating the breakfast Lula had gone and gotten.

"Bobby still zonked out?" Lula asked.

"Last I checked." Stephanie said. "Those pain killers must work real well." It was the only thing Stephanie and Lula had come up with that could make Bobby be docile and cooperate with them, when he wasn't having a tantrum about the pictures they took while they had been at the shore in Vinnie's house there.

Lula picked up the bottle off the table, "But we're running out, we need some more shit."

"I don't know where to get any of that other than a pharmacy."

"We're running out bread here as well. That petty cash helped, but batman is going to find us soon. I just have this feeling." Lula said, looking around the room expecting Ranger to jump out behind something and get them.

A thump and a load groan sounded in the bedroom off of the suite they were in. Both of them looked towards the door.

"How pissed do you think he'll be this morning?" Stephanie asked.

"I ain't dealing with him, this was your idea anyway." Lula said.

"Do you think he'll want breakfast?" Stephanie asked, watching the door. Not really wanting to go check and see about all the grunting and banging going on.

"Shit! You better go make sure he ain't tearing anything up in there. We can't afford to pay for anything that gets messed up." Lula said looking at the door with Stephanie.

Stephanie stood up, "we'll just go see how our little boy is doing in there."

"There ain't gonna be no we, it's gonna be a you. I agreed to help put him in that dress at the shore, I agreed with pills, with the shocking his ass till the taser broke. I ain't going in that room. I'm gonna sit my happy ass right here and finish breakfast." Lula said turning quickly back to her food. "Ain't nothing going to get me to get up and look in that room." Lula kept shaking her head no, "No way."

"STEPHANIE! LULA!" They both heard Bobby yell.

"He's still upset." Stephanie said.

"You better go shut his ass up." Lula said.

"Chicken!" Stephanie told her as she walked slowly and cautiously towards the door. Stephanie opened the door to the bedroom, Bobby was laying on the floor cuffed and shackled, his head snapped and looked at Stephanie.

"Stephanie," came the low deep seeded growl out of Bobby's throat.

"Bobby," Stephanie told him back, "you really need to be quiet. We wouldn't want the hotel security in here. That wouldn't be a good thing."

Bobby moved his head back towards his chest. He had gotten the panty hose off from around his mouth, he looked back at Stephanie. "You know, a body does have needs."

"That's why we gave you depends."

Ranger was laughing more by the time he got back on the highway, he couldn't believe he had an autograph on the speeding ticket that actually was signed by Elvis Presley. He kept shaking his head, he needed a laugh, but it would have been better if he had Stephanie to share it with. She wouldn't believe this one, he decided he was going to have to frame this speeding ticket.

Fifteen minutes later he was dialing Lester to find out where he was. Lester was following the clues and he decided it would be better to have Lester tag along with him. The both of them would be able to put the clues together faster and figure out where they were.

"Talk," Lester said when he answered the cell.

"Where are you?" Ranger asked still chuckling.

"Was going to head out to the shore. What are you laughing at?" Lester asked him.

"I'll have to show you, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you." Ranger told him, "Meet me behind the bond office. I'll get someone to pick up my BMW."

"We teaming on this one?" Lester asked, he hadn't teamed with Ranger alone on anything for awhile now. He always had Hal to deal with.

"Yes, we're teaming."

"Ten four, see you in a few." Lester told him.

Ranger hung up and dialed headquarters so someone could come get his car. He pulled in first behind the bond's office and noticed Stephanie's car had four flat tires. Ranger got out of the BMW and then walked around the cooper looking for anything that showed why the tires had no air. Lester pulled on the other side of the cooper and got out. Looking up, Ranger noticed Alex was wearing Lester's clothes and sported a new pair of shoes.

"What happen to the wheels?" Alex asked.

"Flat tires." Ranger told her.

Lester bent down and looked at the front tire closest to him, "I don't see any slash marks."

"Looks like someone just let the air out of them." Ranger said getting back on his phone.

Lester stood back up, "I think Bobby is paying her back." Lester said grinning, "You are going to let her find this aren't you?" He asked Ranger.

"I'm thinking about it." Ranger walked away from them, getting more reports and nothing seemed to be coming in on credit cards usage, or anything else. He looked back towards Lester and Alex. "They have to be using cash. No trail so far."

Lester handed Ranger the keys. "The ankle monitor works great."

"Yeah, I just love getting the shit shocked out of me. Have my ass tingle for twenty minutes afterwards." Alex snapped.

Ranger walked over to Alex, "We really need to work on your mouth. What's the voltage set on?"

"Three. I haven't tried it any higher yet." Lester stated.

"You go any higher, and I'll have my lawyer on your ass." Alex stated.

"Lawyers are not a problem." Ranger told her.

"Her's might be. Sharlene Tarlton is her lawyer." Lester told him, "I have to make sure Alex is at court at 11:30 on Monday. I was mandated."

Ranger looked at Alex and then to Lester. "You're shitting me?"

"No," Alex said grinning evilly. "I better not get shocked anymore."

"Then stay within five feet." Lester said.

Sharlene Tarlton sat at the table in her office along with her husband and partner in the firm Daniel Tarlton. "Brax, I need those documents. I have to make sure everything is in order before Monday, I need to see what I've had you run to court and file already."

"Coming," Brax walked into the office.

Daniel looked up from the file he was working on, "I don't see anything wrong with this petition for emancipation. We have to make sure we have all the documents stating that she can have it."

Sharlene looked up at Brax as he handed her the file, "Thank you, you are a doll for coming in today."

"Is there anything I can get you two?" Brax asked, "I like working on these cases, these are fun."

Daniel chuckled, "Yes, they are. So much fun they are free, and typically the hardest ones to do."

"Don't Daniel." Sharlene told him pouting out her bottom lip at her husband.

Daniel reached over and took his wife's hand, "I didn't mean it, this one is different and well worth it." He saw his wife's smile and he felt better. "Brax, I think we are fine for right now. Just stick around for awhile."

Sharlene waited till Brax had left the room, "I don't want to screw up. I promised her things that I'm going to deliver this time." Sharlene opened the file and shuffled through the documents.

"It'll work out fine, this isn't like the last one that came in. Alex actually has a future, she can support herself." Daniel looked down at the petition and started asking for documents that went with the petition. Sharlene handed them over one by one. "I need the birth certificate now." Daniel told her. He wasn't looking at his wife and stuck out his hand expecting it to be there. He looked up at his wife when the document wasn't put in his hand. Her eyes were starting to glisten over, and he could see the horror written clearly on her face.

"Sharlene?" Daniel asked.

Sharlene looked over at him, "I gave you the death certificate for her father, read his name off to me."

Daniel looked back through the papers and pulled out both death certificates, "Mother's reads Victoria Lacey Ramono, maiden name Ramono," he flipped over that sheet and then read the other one, "Father's reads Michael Raphael Desenzano." He looked at his wife, "Why?"

Sharlene put her head down on the table, "Shit, shit, shit," and passed Daniel the birth certificate.

Daniel took the birth certificate, and read the parents names. "She has her mother's last name, who the hell is Joseph Anthony Morelli?"


	16. Chapter 16

Alex was sitting in the back of the SUV, not the very back like she would have liked, because of the five foot leash she had on. She was watching the Jersey scenery pass outside the window. It had been a long time since she had been to the shore. Her mind couldn't help but think of her father, he was the one who brought her to the shore after James had a talk with him about it. It turned out to be an okay day, one of the better memories she had from her childhood. Her best memories had actually been in the karate school.

Lester's cell phone rang and Alex looked over at him. This was the first sound in the SUV in the last twenty minutes.

"Talk." Lester said into his phone.

"Do you always answer your phone like that?" Sharlene asked on the other side of the line.

"Yes, I do. If you are checking up on Alex, Mrs. Tarlton, she's fine." Lester said looking back to Alex from the passenger seat.

"I'm not checking up on her. I need to talk to her." Sharlene said in a strained voice.

"Let me put her on." Lester handed the phone back to Alex. He looked over to Ranger with his brow furrowed. Ranger raised an eyebrow, Lester responded with a shrug of his shoulders. He kept looking at Alex, he hadn't liked the sound of Sharlene's voice.

"Hello." Alex said. Her head turned back to look out the window.

"Caitlyn…" Sharlene paused.

"What's up?" Alex asked when Sharlene didn't say anything else.

"You remember when I had to get you to sign for your birth certificate because you couldn't find it in your mother's stuff." Sharlene said.

"Yes, mother didn't keep my birth certificate around. Why?" Alex asked.

"What is your father's name?" Sharlene asked, not answering Alex's question.

_What is going on? Why isn't she answering my questions now?_ Alex thought. "His name is Michael Raphael Desenzano. Why?" Alex asked again, her voice hitching just a fraction higher.

Lester watched, he could see the tension starting to build inside Alex. Her feet were flexing, he watched as her fist kept clenching and opening. He looked over to Ranger who was glancing at her out of the review mirror.

_I never pulled her birth certificate, I got his name from her school records. What the hell is on her birth certificate? _Ranger thought as he made a lane change, pulling over to the right side of the highway. He could see the exit for a rest stop coming up.

"No, I have never seen my birth certificate. I told you she never kept that stuff. What is on it?" Alex asked as her spine stiffened. _I want my freedom, you promised me Sharlene. You promised I would have it._ Alex thought.

"Caitlyn, did your mother ever talk about a Joseph Anthony Morelli?"

_What? I don't know anyone by that name. _"I never heard of the guy. Why are you asking me all of this shit for?" _My parents are dead._ Alex thought. She closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing, tried to control the anger that was building up, anger at being so close to freedom, so close to it and she knew her world was going to take a plunge. She could feel it.

"According to your birth certificate, that is your father. I have to cancel the emancipation hearing and serve him with papers on Monday and have the hearing moved to Friday." Sharlene told her.

"No!" Alex shouted in the phone, "You can't fucking do this to me, you promised me damn it."

Ranger took the exit for the rest stop. He glanced in the mirror, _she is going to explode, damn she has got a temper,_ he thought. Ranger pulled into the nearest parking spot in the rest area and shut off the SUV and turned to look back at Alex.

Lester watched her. _Damn baby, calm down. She really needs to work on that temper, not to mention all the trust issues. _Lester thought.

"I know I promised, but I have to serve him with the papers. If he doesn't show up, then you are still on your own, there is still a chance of winning this. I have to do my job within the confines of the court, I have to serve him papers Caitlyn. The judge won't give it to you, if Joseph Morelli hasn't been served." Sharlene explained.

"I don't give a damn about Joseph Morelli. I want my fucking life, mine." Alex growled out and went for the door on the SUV. She threw the phone at Lester as she opened the back door and climbed out.

Lester caught the phone and tossed it to Ranger as he opened the passenger door, Alex took off and went down to the ground howling in pain from the monitor and anger at being denied the one thing she wanted the most. Lester reached her and grabbed her left leg and started extending the muscles. "Calm down." Lester told her.

Ranger caught the phone and said, "Mrs. Tarlton, this is Carlos Manoso. Miss Ramono can't come to the phone right now."

"She's angry isn't she?" Sharlene asked.

"I would classify her level of anger at a seething rage right now." Ranger told her.

_Joseph Morelli? It can't be Morelli? Can it? _Ranger opened the driver door and got out of the SUV.

"She still needs to make the court hearing on Monday, I have to move the time, the judge still wants to see her." Sharlene told him.

"Mrs. Tarlton, who is on her birth certificate?" Ranger asked, he wanted to make sure of the name he heard Alex use was exactly what he heard.

"Father's name, Joseph Anthony Morelli. I already have my people looking into the records right now. The dates on her birth certificate are matching to a Trenton police detective. My husband is working on his service papers as we speak." Sharlene sighed then continued, "Mr. Manoso, I know you want my services. You keep Caitlyn until this Friday and we'll sit down and discuss a contract between ourselves. I don't want Caitlyn doing anything drastic because of this set back. Mr. Santos gave me his word he'd watch over her. The judge knows she's in his hands right now. I don't know how you run your company, but I do know I'm tying up one of your men. I'll double his rate of pay so you won't be out any money on this."

_I'm already down a hundred grand on this. Jesus! Morelli's kid, _Ranger thought going around the SUV and watching Lester massage out Alex's calf. "I think that will be adequate pay for compensation for Mr. Santos' time. We'll make sure to have her there on Monday." Ranger hung up Lester's phone.

Joe Morelli was standing in front of Agent Jackson's desk in the FBI headquarters. "Why did you pull Shiropolli that fast off the streets?"

"We have the tape, that is all we need." Jackson told him leaning back in his chair.

"You are going to convict him on the tape and leave his stooges out on the street to keep things going?" Morelli ran his hand's through his black hair all the way through the wavy locks in the back trying to calm his temper. _These are the two most ignorant agents I have ever worked with. Why do I do this job with these idiots? _Morelli thought.

"He'll roll over, we've got him." Jackson said. "Good collar. Go home, take your days off and let us handle it."

"Fine!" Morelli went over to the door and opened it and turned back to him, "You are fucking stupid if you think he's going to roll over. Don't come asking for my help if anything goes wrong. I don't want to work with either you or your partner again!"

Joe slammed the door, _pulled him too damn early._ Joe hit the wall with the side of his fist as he was walking down the corridor. _Fuck! Shiropolli is going to think Alex sang against him. Fuck! _

Joe got to his green SUV and climbed inside. He pulled his cell phone out and tried Stephanie's cell number for the tenth time this morning after he had found out the feds had pulled Shiropolli. He got nothing again but for her answering service. He slammed his phone shut and grabbed the steering wheel and shook it. "FUCK!"

_Those idiots are going to get Alex killed. Damn it, Stephanie. _Joe looked at the phone in his hand and dialed Ranger. He knew Ranger always knew where Stephanie was. Joe knew that a warrant had not been issued, someone had Alex. He hoped Shiropolli's stooges hadn't found her. He started the SUV and pulled away from the federal building, he needed to make sure that Alex's apartment hadn't been tampered with.

"Yo!" Ranger answered.

Ranger was watching Alex with his eyebrow raised, she was now circling Lester. He hadn't felt the need to jump in yet. Lester was holding his own very well.

"Do you know where Stephanie is? Do you know if she has Alex Ramono?" Ranger heard the growled questions.

"No to both." Ranger said. _Why is he so angry? I've never heard him like this? Well once, when I had to make sure Eddie Abruzzi was taken out,_ Ranger thought. Alex took off from the ground bringing her left foot up, her right foot came off the ground as her left went back and her right foot snapped in an aerial side kick. Lester jumped back, Alex barely missing his head as she spun and brought her left hand towards his head in back fist.

Lester caught her fist, "I agreed to work out some of your anger, quit going for blood."

Ranger shook his head. _I don't know if this was such a good idea, damn she is so pissed. Just like the man on the phone cussing in my ear right now._

"What got fucked up?" Ranger asked. He took a stabbing shot that it had to do with the case he was working on.

"The fucking dickhead feds I was working with pulled Shiropolli off the street to early." Joe said.

"Not good," Ranger said, "What have the feds got?"

Ranger watched as Alex grabbed her fist back out of Lester's hand and walked back away from him, her hand's clasped behind her head. He saw the ragged breathing, looking at his watch he noticed she had gone fifteen minutes. Lester started walking around her.

"Breathe, let it out slowly," Lester said to Alex.

"A tape, a god damned tape. Shiropolli has a way of making things disappear in lock up. I have to find Alex, he's going to think with that tape that Alex rolled over on him." Joe told him.

Ranger noticed Joe was still pissed, but his daughter was coming down fast with that little workout Lester talked her into. They felt it would be better to let her get some of that pent up anger out before they got back on the road.

"Don't worry about her, I'm mandated from her lawyer for her protection till she goes to court." Ranger told Joe.

He could hear Joe breathe a little easier.

"You have her?" Joe asked.

"Yes." Ranger hung up the phone. "Are you two through playing around now?"

Alex had her eyes closed breathing, trying to get her anger to subside. She was pissed off at her mother, her mother had always done something to put her in impossible situations. Even from the grave she did it again.

Lester stopped in front of Alex, he could see her jaw muscles still working furiously as she was grinding her teeth. "It's going to be okay, keep breathing."

Ranger pushed off the SUV and walked over, he looked Alex over, she had the same coloring as Morelli, the same hair color, he knew her eyes were not like his, her nose wasn't like his, her brow was. She definitely had his temper. Her eyes snapped open the second he got within four feet of her. Ranger stopped. _Wrong color, right intensity for Morelli though, too damn assessing, definitely her father's trait, _Ranger thought.

Alex glared at Ranger, but if she took a step back she would be out of the range for the ankle monitor. "You're in my space."

Ranger grinned, "Yes I am. Are you calmed down enough so we can go to the shore now?"

She looked up at Lester, he was standing only two feet from her. He was grinning down at her. "I promise as soon as we get back to headquarters, I'll take you to the gym and we'll let you kick as much ass as you want too."

Alex looked at Ranger. Ranger gave a slight nod of agreement.

"Okay, I'm ready to go." Alex told them. She unlaced her fingers and took her hands off her head.

Ranger turned and walked back to the SUV. Lester stayed where he was and Alex started walking for the SUV, Lester moved only when Alex was beside him.

"You know, having a father in your life might not be so bad." Lester said, he glanced at her and saw the furrowed brow increase.

"I don't even know who this guy is." Alex growled out.

Ranger looked back over his shoulder, "He's one of the good guys, Alex. He's worried about you." _I don't want to see her get emancipated, Morelli isn't a bad guy, he has a good heart. If Shiropolli gets away, he won't let him around her, _Ranger thought.

Alex gave a bark of laughter, "Yeah right. If he's so fucking worried about me, where's he been my whole life?"

Ranger stopped and looked at her, "That's a question for your mother to answer. Don't judge him until you get his side Alex. You didn't even know yourself until that phone call. If he doesn't step up to the plate, I will. But I won't have too, because your father will step up to the plate, he's not going to use you like your mother did. He's not going to fuck with your head like Shiropolli. He'll protect you from the likes of them, because that is what he does Alex, that is what he is."


	17. Chapter 17

Joe pulled into the apartment complex. He got out of his SUV and walked over to the apartment that had yellow crime scene tape placed in an x pattern across the front door. Antoine was leaning on the wall by the door.

"I don't know why you dragged me out of bed on my off day. I don't think anyone has been inside since I last closed up." Antoine told him.

"Just humor me." Joe told him.

"You given any more thought on what I asked you?" Antoine asked as he pulled the key from his pocket and opened the front door.

"Yeah, you want to start working with the feds. Have at it, I'll put a word in for you, I'm tired of their bullshit." Joe told him as he ripped down the crime scene tape and walked into the apartment.

Antoine followed him, "If you are so tired of their bullshit why are you here? You told me this morning Shiropolli is sitting in a cell."

He shouldn't be here, Antoine shouldn't be here. He knew Ranger had Alex. Nothing had felt right about this case. Joe hated it when in the back of his mind he knew there was still missing pieces to a puzzle. This case had huge gaping holes. They had stacks of cold cases where someone had jumped the gun to early on a homicide. He didn't want to see this one go into that cold case storage. To many cold cases involved kids, he didn't want to see Alex become a statistic.

"He is, but not by my choice, they pulled rank and yanked his chain." Joe told him.

"You going to let me in on this now or what?" Antoine asked. "We aren't even supposed to be here. The feds pulled this homicide from me, I just conveniently forgot I had an extra key here. This doesn't feel right."

Joe was walking room from room with Antoine following. "I normally work alone, but I'm going to make sure I'm transferred back to homicide and out of vice for awhile. I'll speak to the chief and get you moved to vice." Morelli looked at Antoine, "I get what I want, you want vice, I'll take homicide."

"He wouldn't pull me off the cases I have open." Antoine said as he followed Joe into Alex's bedroom.

"He will if I ask for it, explain what the feds did. He'll do it." Joe stopped and looked at the pictures on Alex's dresser. He picked them up one by one, examining each of them. He was looking at the one where Alex was being hugged by James the owner of the karate school. Joe saw Alex holding a black belt in her right hand with gold stitching spelling out Ramono, she also had a watch in her hand. James had his left hand on her right hip, his right hand was out of sight but for the tips of his fingers which were showing through her hair just on the top of the swell of her bottom. Antoine came up behind him and looked at the picture Joe was holding.

"Awfully friendly." Antoine commented, then picked up the watch on the dresser.

"Not what I would call quite appropriate." Joe stated.

Antoine looked from the watch to the picture, "Maybe you ought to read the engraving on the back."

Joe put the picture down and took the watch. On the back of the inside face of the watch Joe read. _To Alex, From James, Mentor and Surrogate Father, I love you Baby._ Joe looked back to the picture. "I don't like the feeling I'm getting from this."

"I don't think he took his surrogate father role seriously. If I was mentoring a kid, I wouldn't put my hand on her ass, that's for sure." Antoine said.

"When I talked to him, I only got the feeling he was her boss and instructor," Joe said setting the watch back down.

"He gave off the same vibe to me, but that picture says something else." Antoine said.

"We could be wrong," Joe turned and leaned against the dresser, he looked at the family portrait on the wall.

"We could be, but if anything happened between them, it would fuck with her head." Antoine said as he moved over towards the trophies.

Joe crossed his arms, he looked at Victoria Ramono, he knew of her, she was two years behind him in school. Brown hair, brown eyes, very Italian. He glanced at Michael next, black hair, brown eyes, dark skin. Alex was between them, her black hair fell in waves across her shoulders, she didn't look no more than nine or ten in the portrait. She had shocking blue eyes even then.

"Son of a bitch!" Joe moved from the dresser and went to the portrait. "How the fuck did she end up with blue eyes."

"Come again?" Antoine asked placing a trophy back on the floor.

"Two brown eye'd people can't make a blue eye'd child." Joe looked over to Antoine, "it's a genetic lottery. The probability is less than two percent for blue eyes."

"Her mother is still at the mortuary, we hurry, we can pull DNA." Antoine told him.

Joe looked back at the portrait. _Who are you, little girl?_

Lester and Ranger both watched Alex. Ranger glanced in the review mirror every now and then while he drove. She had yet to say another word since leaving the rest stop. Alex had gone from angry and argumentative to sullen and withdrawn. Lester sat beside her in the back seat. Her forehead was resting on the window. The reflection on the inside showing the vacant stare she had for the past half hour.

_I don't know what I said that would throw her into this, _Ranger thought. _I almost wish we had the angry girl back with us._ Ranger pulled the SUV into Vinnie's driveway and parked. He opened his door. The sound made Alex jump and sit up straight. "Not too aware of your surroundings right now. Are you?"

Alex glared at him then turned to get out but stopped short when she saw Lester hadn't moved.

"You want to talk about it?" Lester asked.

_From what Ranger said earlier, it sounds like he's a cop. Cops do those things. I don't like cops, never have. Ranger said he was worried about me, right! He's worried about Shiropolli, worried about fucking up and losing his case. He's not worried about who I am, he doesn't even fucking know._ Alex thought.

"Why? It's not like I'm gonna have a choice to my life anymore." Alex told him.

"You always have a choice," Lester ran his hands over his short buzz cut. "Life is full of choices. No one is out to control your life."

Alex gave a disbelieving laugh, "Like I'm gonna have a choice how I want to live my life with pig cop as a father." She turned to look at Ranger, "I'm right, he's a cop, isn't he?"

_Trust issues, authority issues, damn who fucked up this kids life. _Ranger thought.

"Don't judge him by what his job is, it's a classification. It's not who he is, that is just what he does. You can't compare him to the other cops you've had in your life." Ranger told her and got out of the SUV and shut the door.

Alex looked back at Lester. "Are you getting out?"

Lester closed his eyes then let out a slow breath and opened the door. _It's like arguing with a brick wall. She's not letting anyone in. _Lester thought. He stepped out of the SUV and offered her his hand, she stopped before getting out and looked at it. He could see her brows knit in confusion. "I'm not going to hurt you, I wouldn't hurt you Baby."

Alex's head snapped up, she looked Lester in the eyes. _Don't call me that, he always called me that, father always called me that. Then James, James was a mistake, he never hit me, never, James was just a mistake. _Alex thought. Lester could see the tension in her face, her jaw set, and the slight reverse move she made on the seat.

_Baby? That's twice she's had that look when I called her that. _Lester thought.

"Come on Baby." Lester said softly.

Alex moved further back into the SUV. _Why did he have to call me that? Not like that, not that sickly soft sweet voice. That's when all the pain starts, that's when you get the shit beat out of you. That sweet serpent tongue that strikes like a viper with venom that poisons._ Alex thought. Alex had her right foot up, waiting for a power stomp if she had to use it.

Lester put down his hand and leaned back into the SUV warily watching her foot, "Alex, it's okay. I'm not him."

Ranger had walked over to the passenger side of the SUV, he watched how Alex had backed away from Lester. _Morelli is not going to like this. She is wound up so tight. The only outlet she knows is fight and flight. Damn. _Ranger thought. He saw her leg cock further back in.

"Lester, change the tone of your voice." Ranger told him.

"Alex," Lester said with more force behind it this time, he dropped the soft quality he had kept his voice even. "No one is going to hurt you. I'm not him." He moved back out of the SUV when he saw her foot come down but not strike.

Alex watched warily as Lester went out of the SUV and then turned and gave his back to her stepping away from the door. She took a deep breath as her heart rate started slowing its pace and she moved out of the SUV putting the five feet back in between Lester and herself.

"Give her more space," Ranger told Lester.

Lester reached down and changed the receiver to give her fifty feet. He shut the door to the SUV and followed Ranger to Vinnie's door. Ranger looked back and saw Alex watching them both. He leaned over to Lester, so only he could hear as Alex was staying further back.

"Someone's played with her head in a soft voice. From the way she's reacting, I bet whoever it is beat the shit out of her while he did it." Ranger told Lester.

"The way she reacted earlier with me it was like a fresh wound, not like this." Lester whispered back as they reached the door.

Ranger looked over his shoulder, Alex was staying about twenty feet from them. He picked the lock on the door and opened it up. "We have her out of her element right now," Ranger told him. He went through the doorway. "She can react anyway right now, lets give her some time and see what she does."

Lester nodded his head in agreement.

Alex saw them enter the house, she turned around and looked out towards the sounds of the ocean beating against the shore. The surf and salt air filling her lungs. The summer sun felt warm, but Alex covered her arms across her chest. She didn't know how much room he gave her, but she didn't want to get shocked again. Alex made her way to the door. She stuck her head inside and looked around at the foyer. A small table stood by the door with a porcelain goat on top of it. The horns pointing up in the air instead of rounding down by the head. She took a step inside and walked about two feet in and shut the door.

She could hear Lester and Ranger looking in the room off to her left, she stuck her head around the corner and saw them looking closely around a red and black room. Posters of animals and naked people were in various sexual positions covered the walls. Alex's stomach started churning and she turned her head away from the room. _Who the hell lives here? _

Walking across the hall to the room directly opposite, she entered a dining room. A deep mahogany table that had a glass tabletop. She moved closer to peer at the table and saw carvings etched into the wood. The design of men riding men from behind all around the edge. Alex moved her head back away from the table and noticed the chair posts were designed to look like penises.

Lester and Ranger came out of the red and black room and crossed to the dining room. Alex backed away towards the side of the room moving further from Ranger and closer to Lester. Once they passed into the room, Alex skirted past Lester with a deep blush on her cheeks. Lester saw the chairs and grinned, Vinnie had dropped some money to make his animal porn bachelor haven the way he wanted it.

Ranger waited till Alex was out of the room, "Vinnie is a sick bastard."

Lester chuckled, "Yes he is, I don't think Alex likes this house."

"Who would? Other than Vinnie and every other sick sadomasochism freaks." Ranger said.

Lester stuck his head out of the room and saw Alex moving down the hall, he looked down at the receiver and put another hundred feet on. She wanted to prowl the house, he would let her. He shook his head and started looking for clues.

Alex opened a door at the end of the hall, stepping inside she saw zebra print couches. Studio spot lights in the room pointing down to them. On one wall she saw a movie print of Babe the movie, on another wall she saw other movie prints, titles she hadn't heard of, but from the nature of it, was blatantly sexual. At one end she saw a tripod for a camera the movie kind and still frame cameras. She walked further in the room and reached out for the couch but stopped herself short. _Sex with animals, sex with men. I don't think I should touch this couch, _Alex thought. _It looks soft, I'll assume it is._

She walked around the room. Looking at the various things here and there. Turning to leave she noticed the white corner of what appeared to be a picture partly coming from under the edge of the couch. She went closer and squatted down. _Do I even want to touch this? But what if it is one of the clues? What if it isn't? What if it is some guy trying to ride a hippo? Damn, too many what ifs? So not good._ Alex thought. She stood up and put her new sneaker on the edge and started scooting it out. Once she had it out she squatted back down and looked at the picture after she tilted her head in the right direction.

It was a guy in a dress, a pink dress with a white boa of feathers hanging around his neck. She looked closer and remembered he had been in the apartment with Ranger and them when they first took her. The military buzz cut stood out against the back drop of what looked like an orgy going on behind him. Alex looked around the room, she hadn't seen that. She looked back at the picture. Bobby was just overly developed for that dress. Alex started laughing. She stood up and walked out into the hall laughing, she wasn't picking that picture up.

She found Ranger and Lester in the kitchen off the dining room. She walked in still laughing holding her ribs from the pain and laughter.

Lester and Ranger both stared at her as she came back in.

"What's so funny?" Lester asked her.

"Bobby in a dress." Alex leaned up against the wall for support and slid down it laughing.

Ranger and Lester looked at each other and looked back at Alex. "Where is Bobby in a dress?" Ranger asked.

"Studio, down the hall." Alex got out through the laughter. "Pink and white are not his color."

Lester started laughing, Ranger was chuckling. They both headed out of the kitchen. They found the studio room, and the picture.

"Bobby is probably so pissed." Lester said through the pain in his stomach for laughing so hard.

Ranger couldn't help it and laughed with Lester. _Babe! What am I going to do with you? I never want to piss you off this bad._


	18. Chapter 18

Before they left Alex's room, Joe picked up her hairbrush. The long black hair weaved in and out of the brush teeth sticking up. Antoine looked at Morelli with the hairbrush.

"We can't pull her DNA." Antoine said.

"We can at a crime scene." Joe said and took the brush with him out of the room.

"If she has a lawyer, the lawyer will have a fit." Antoine said, "my name is on the files of this case not yours."

"The feds pulled it from you." Joe stopped and turned back to him bringing the hairbrush up and pointing it at him, "they aren't playing by the rules here. This kids life is on the line. If she doesn't belong to Ramono, she has to be someone's daughter. The feds aren't going to worry about that. Until I know for sure, she needs someone to look out for her. She need someone who will fight for her and find out the damn truth. If it is in my ability to find out who she is and where she belongs, damn it, I'm going to do it. It has to be better than this fucking hell hole she's been living in. Take a good look around you and tell me she doesn't deserve better than this."

Antoine shook his head, "I heard you were a lone cowboy, not always playing by the rules, but a damn good cop, with intuitions. Always holding the cards and not showing everything you know. If we get caught our jobs are screwed."

Joe grinned at him, "I haven't got caught yet. Besides, I'll think of a way to get her DNA legally other than this crime scene if that is what you are worried about. Until then, I'm going to protect that kid the best way I know how."

"We don't even have her to protect her. How the hell are we supposed to do that when we don't know where she is?" Antoine asked.

Joe smiled, "Alex is in the wind." He started walking out of the apartment with Antoine following.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Antoine asked.

Joe just laughed and shook his head. "You can't see the wind. As long as she stays with the wind, she's protected."

_Ranger won't let anything happen to her. Hell, he's forked out a hundred grand. He isn't going to let his investment walk right out his door. What if I can't find out who she is or who she belongs too? Ranger said she was his if the feds didn't step up and pay him back. I wonder if he will want to keep her if I can't put this puzzle together?_ Joe thought, _I'm normally not into sharing, but, Christ this kid needs a break._

Joe got into his SUV and watched as Antoine got into an old beat up mustang that had bondo all over the frame. It looked like it was almost ready to be put into paint.

Lester came back into the kitchen, he saw Alex on her side on the floor holding her ribs. His stomach was hurting from laughing so much he knew Alex was probably in worse pain because of her ribs as well. He went to the refrigerator and pulled it open looking for something she could drink and take the pain medication with.

"You are taking a pain pill and I don't want to hear no for an answer." Lester told her as he found an unopened can of coke in the refrigerator.

Ranger had stepped into the kitchen, he heard what Lester said and his eyes focused on Alex who lay on the floor.

"No!" Alex hissed through gritted teeth.

"Yes, you will," Lester said and went over to her. He squatted down beside her while looking at his watch. "It's going on thirty-six hours, Alex. You can't tell me your ribs don't hurt this time."

Alex sat up bending her knees and placing her arms over them, letting her hands dangle in front of her knees. "They are hurting," she took a breath, "hurt like hell." She looked at the coke in Lester's hands. "But I'm not taking that shit."

"Alex, you don't always have to be in control all the time." Ranger said as he moved towards the island in the middle of the kitchen and leaned up against it. "When you're in pain, its better to let others around you take that control and help you out, until you can regain it on your own."

Leaning her head back against the kitchen wall, Alex closed her eyes and took another ragged painful breath, "Fucking control has nothing to do with it. You tell me. When have I been in control here? Fuck your damn control."

_She is hostile when she is in pain. Damn perceptive as well. She knows she's not in control here. Street smart, but she hasn't once talked street._ Ranger thought, he thought back to her school transcripts. He knew she had honors advanced placement classes in English. _She's articulate, grew up in the streets but you wouldn't be able to peg her as a street. She uses the ghetto to her advantage, she uses it with her wit, and mind. It's not a control issue. Interesting!_

Lester answered seeing that Ranger was lost in thought, "You haven't been in control since we picked you up. If it isn't that Alex, what are you afraid of the pain medication doing?" Lester pulled the orange bottles with the white labels from his shirt pocket, he put the antibiotic back up and kept out the pain medication.

"I'm not afraid of taking it. I don't like the way it makes me feel." Alex told him. _I don't like the way it makes me dream at night either. Normally I can't remember any dreams, I don't like that vivid feel of being stuck in them. I don't like not being able to think clearly, I can't trust myself._ Alex thought.

"Are you sure it isn't being in control then, because you lose control over how you feel on it?" Lester asked trying to understand this.

"It isn't a fucking control issue. If it had to do with just control don't you think I would have already taken the damn things." Alex sighed. _You just don't fucking get it._

_It's not control. How it makes her feel? _Ranger thought. He moved and squatted down in front of her. _Feel? She's playing with her words, hiding the real issue. She's clever. She can't think while she's on it. She loses her reasoning ability. I know exactly what that is like, and it is not fun. I can't believe Lester hasn't picked up on this._

"Alex, Lester and I are not going to put you in a situation where you need to think clearly while you are taking this medication." Alex snapped her eyes opened and jerked her head off the wall and glared at Ranger. Ranger grinned, "It's not control. Lester should have figured this out sooner. It's not often we actually meet someone of your caliber that only doesn't trust anymore. But doesn't trust themselves more. You don't trust your actions while you are on the medication do you?"

_How did he figure that out? What did I do to give him that information? Or was it something I said? Or not say? I don't want to go back on that limb of trust with the medication again. What little bit I did with Lester was enough today on the trust factor. _Alex thought.

Lester could see Ranger was right. He could see it now, he totally missed it that she didn't trust herself. He could see it in her eyes as she glared down Ranger.

"I don't want to make another mistake because I'm impaired." Alex said.

Ranger looked at Lester. _What is she talking about?_ Ranger thought.

"What mistake Alex?" Ranger asked.

Ranger looked at Lester after Lester hung his head. _Lester knows, what is she talking about?_ Ranger thought.

Alex turned her head away from both of them. Lester lifted his head and looked back at her. "Alex, there won't be any mistake this time. Trust me, you won't be taken advantage of because the pain medication may impair your judgment." Lester placed the coke beside her leg on the floor and put the pain medication bottle on top of it. He stood up and walked to the other side of the kitchen.

Ranger listened to what Lester said. He saw Lester get up and move away from her. He looked back at Alex who slyly glanced at Lester's retreating back. _These two have been flirting with each other._ Ranger stood up and followed Lester. He placed himself in front of Lester when Lester had stopped near the other wall on the other side. "Flirting with her is one thing. Don't let it go past that. You keep it innocent."

"I'm not letting it go past innocence. I don't plan on screwing her over. I think she's had enough of that in her life." Lester said.

_He likes her. Shit Lester! This is Morelli's kid. She has to learn to trust Morelli first before she can trust anyone else._ Ranger thought. "Then you are going to have to let Morelli gain that first step of trust she needs. She needs that with her father. You be careful how you flirt with her."

Ranger's phone rang and he reached for it and hit the button as Lester answered, "I know. Morelli would probably kill me if he knew I liked her."

"Yo!" Ranger said into the phone after hearing Lester's answer.

A pause was heard by Ranger then Joe asked, "how's Alex?"

"Alex is doing fine Morelli." Ranger said. He heard Lester groan, watched him pivot and start hitting his head up against the wall. _Did Morelli hear what Lester said? I know that is what Lester is thinking._

He heard the pause on Joe's end. "Look, I may have stumbled upon something concerning Alex. I think you need to know." Joe said.

Ranger turned and leaned up against the cabinet that Lester was standing near. He looked over at Alex. She was turning the pill bottle over and over in front of her. Ranger could see the concentration in her creased brows. "Are you sharing information with me now willingly?" Ranger asked.

Lester turned back around and watched Alex but kept his ears straining to pick up what Ranger was getting from Morelli. Ranger listened as Joe explained his suspicions about Alex not belonging to her parents. He told him about the portrait and the odds of her coming out with her eye color the way it was. He even expounded on the picture of James and Alex on her dresser giving Ranger information that was much needed. As he listened he saw Alex open the pill bottle and shake two out and open the coke and take them. Ranger nudged Lester who nudged him back in return. Joe explained how he was going to get DNA test run to confirm his suspicions.

"How soon will you know?" Ranger asked him. _Damn Babe! How the hell do you always end up with the fun skips like this? I never get any good skips like this. I love this mystery shit._

"Monday morning. I'm putting a rush on it, I'm going to pull some strings, just so I can get it back that early. Can't get it any sooner." Joe told him.

_Monday! Christ! You'll get served papers on Monday. Need to avoid Morelli if at all possible on Monday. Maybe till Monday evening. _Ranger thought looking back over to Alex. _She looks like you Morelli, but for her eyes and her nose. She has too many of your features, temper, shrewd look with her eyes._

"And then?" Ranger asked.

"And then I'll try to find who she belongs too. I'm going to be pulling up missing children and double check resource files. She might be one of them. She needs someone she can go to. Someone who can give her a better life than what she's had." Joe told him.

_You already have a father's attitude, even if it only comes out when you're being a cop. _"Maybe you'll find what you're searching for. I wouldn't count anything till we know the facts." Ranger told him.

"What about the hundred grand?" Joe asked. "You said if you didn't get the money back she was yours. Are you willing to back that up, if I don't find who she belongs to?"

"I'll let you know sometime Monday on that issue." Ranger hung up the phone. He didn't want to give anything away. _Morelli, you won't be asking me that again. I'd back it up, but she's yours and I know you'll come demanding her._


	19. Chapter 19

Alex stood up and set the pill bottle on the island in the kitchen. She heard what Lester and Ranger had said, she knew Ranger was on the phone with Morelli. She didn't hear what Morelli said. Alex walked out of the kitchen through the dining room and back into the hall. _Lester likes me. He said he did, but likes me how? Joseph Morelli calls Ranger. They know each other. Things to think about. _Alex thought as she opened another door and found a bathroom that looked normal. _What no sex toys, guys on guys? They actually have a normal room that doesn't involve sex in this house. _Alex walked over to the medicine cabinet and opened it up. Oh the shelves inside were boxes of different condoms, lubricants and other things. _Maybe not._ She left the bathroom not wanting to open anything else.

The next room was dark and Alex turned on the lights. Two floor lamps in the corners came on. The room was stuffed with all sorts of farm animals. Along one wall was a projection TV. Alex went inside the room. To her right was a wall of bookcases. She gravitated towards them. She liked to read, liked being taken away in a book, liked being able to escape at least in her mind the reality of her life. She started reading the titles: _Training dogs: A Girls Best Friend, A Guys Tightest Pleasure; 1001 Uses For a French Tickler; Fowl or Foul: Diary of a Duck; Sex on Trains, Plains, and Automobiles; Guys on Strays._ Alex pulled the book of Guys on Strays, she wanted to know what the strays was. The front cover had a guy holding a big black cat which he was petting. Alex flipped the book over and read the caption: Read my story about how a stray pussy came into my life. She turned to the page the story was on and saw a picture of the guy having sex with the cat. "Eww!" Alex shoved the book back into place. She glanced at the other tittles that were left.

She walked away from the bookcase all the other titles seemed to be in the same venue of the others. Alex walked out of the room not bothering to turn off the lights. Lester and Ranger had entered the hall. Looking over at them, Alex blushed and skirted away from the room as fast as possible. She opened another door and entered the room.

Lester looked at Ranger, "Wonder what that was about?"

"Don't know," Ranger told him. "I bet it is in that room though."

They both headed to the room where the lights were still left on. When Ranger entered it he started laughing.

Lester said, "Vinnie is sick."

Ranger looked over to Lester, "I think he kept his sexual trophies."

They moved in the room both splitting up and looking for any clue that Bobby could have left.

Alex turned on the light in the room she was in. She looked around and saw a huge four-poster bed. The covering was a deep rich royal blue, with dark purple pillow throws. The furniture pieces extensions to the bed was mahogany with crafted gilded hinges. From the other rooms she had been in, Alex didn't want to look at the hinges, but curiosity got the better of her as she went to the dresser. Her eyes fell onto the hinges which had gilded breasts in the center of them for the pull clasps. Alex shook her head, this was the first womanly thing she had seen in the place. She crept closer to the bed and glanced at the night stand. Laying on the nightstand was a book, this one had the title _Lady Chatterley's Lover._ Alex picked up the book, it looked old, the binding around the edges starting to fray, the pages turning the yellowish tinge of an old well loved book. She opened the soft bound cover and looked for the copyright date. It was written back in 1928 by D. H. Lawrence she didn't see any other copyright dates on it, so it was printed back then as well. Alex turned and headed back into the hallway with the book, she sat down just outside the room. Everything faded away as she read the first few words, back into the world that was now starting to form within her mind.

Lester looked over to Ranger, he had been walking around the room shaking his head at seeing the goat and became revolted when he saw the way it was stuffed with the openings at the back. _Vinnie is one sick twisted bastard. I bet he still…ugh, not going there. _Lester thought. "I don't know, this is just too strange. Bobby would have left something."

Ranger glanced up at him, he put his hand down on the cases and hit the remote for the projection TV. "I know…" he stopped he couldn't believe what he was seeing on the screen, other than the blatant sex act with animals. He gave a nod towards the TV and Lester turned. AC could be seen from the projection and hiding parts of the scene which played in the background. Lester walked over to the projection lens that sat on the floor and bent down.

AC was painted in nail polish on the lenses. Ranger picked up the remote and cut the TV off. "AC." He placed the remote back down. "What is AC?"

"I'm not sure." Lester stood back up. _Vinnie would have a fit if he knew this happened._ Lester thought. It gave him a good feeling inside. He wasn't going to remove what Bobby had done to the lens.

"We know Bobby isn't in charge. We know Stephanie is." Ranger had to laugh, the picture of Bobby was in his back pocket. Lester laughed with him. "The carburetor." Ranger laughed even more. "Shit! Stephanie did that to Morelli, that was when I had to go rescue her from her…" Ranger stopped.

"From her what?" Lester asked.

Lester could see Ranger was reliving something, and he could see the wistful look on his face. He had never seen Ranger with that look before; he knew Ranger loved Stephanie. All of them knew how much she meant to him. But when it came to Ranger, you couldn't just tell him these things. They had learned long ago that Ranger would discover things on his own in his own time and being told didn't help at all.

"Ranger." Lester said, getting no response from him. "Carlos!"

Ranger blinked and came back to the land of reality and out of his longing wistfulness. "What?"

Lester snickered. "What did you have to rescue Stephanie from? From her what?"

"Never mind that, it's not important. Let me think." Ranger told him as he started pacing around the farm animals.

_Never mind my ass! _Lester thought. _He had to do something for her and I bet it was damn good too. I need to find that out, maybe after we find Stephanie, Lula and Bobby. See if I can't make something happen on that front. _

Lester continued to watch Ranger pace in and out and around the stuffed farm animals. He moved over to the book case and started reading the book titles Vinnie had. Vinnie's taste in reading went from hot and wild to the ultra bizarre, the books being in hard bound leather all the way to copy pages that looked to have been printed from off the internet.

"Atlantic City." Ranger spoke out making Lester turn to look at him.

"Are you sure?" Lester asked.

Ranger nodded. "Stephanie coming here was a place for her to think. She needed to get Bobby under control. Stephanie likes blackmail, she uses it to her advantage. Let's roll."

Joe and Antoine were sitting back at their desks in the central police station. The DNA test was going to be worked on. Antoine looked back up at Joe and leaned across his desk so he was closer to him so no one would overhear. "Getting parking tickets removed is not quite legal either for getting him to do the DNA screening." Antoine told him.

Looking up Joe shrugged, "I don't have a clue what you mean, Forester doesn't have any parking tickets." Joe kept typing away on the computer, deleting one ticket after the next. "You need to live a little, lie a little, hell, we need to really get you shit-faced tonight. You'll forget all about this little scratching of the backs."

"How often do you do this scratching of the backs?" Antoine asked.

Joe looked back to him, "Only when I have too, only when its necessary, and only when a life is at stake."

Antoine nodded, "Okay I can deal with this." He sat back in his chair and opened up the computer. "You want me to start looking for runaways first. I think they'll be the easiest to go through."

"Just put in her info, black hair, blue eyes, fifteen years old, run the search a year older and a year younger incase someone lied about her age." Joe told him.

"What about the tattoos?" Antoine asked.

Joe shook his head, "Not relevant. Those are recent. Do the runaways first, I'll start the missing children. We don't get any possibles, we'll dig into cold case files on murdered children, she could have been swapped."

Antoine looked from around his computer at Joe, "Do you know how long this is going to take?"

"Yes, get busy. You said you wanted to work with me, well get working." Joe told him, as he booted up the program for missing and exploited children.

Chief Pantangelo walked out of his office. He looked over towards his detectives desks and saw two of them working furiously away. Shaking his head he walked over towards them. "Joe, you are supposed to be on vacation. You know, go home, get drunk, play with the girlfriend, play with your dog."

"I am on vacation." Joe told him. "Finishing up some paperwork."

Pantangelo grabbed a chair from another desk and turned it facing to the two that were shoved together. He sat down straddling the chair and leaned his arms against it. "What are you working on? I know you, you get into a case and it goes wrong and you don't give it up until you have all the pieces to it."

Joe looked to Pantangelo, "It's just paperwork."

Antoine had kept his head buried down in front of the computer terminal he was at. Pantangelo looked to Antoine, "What about you?"

"Paperwork." Antoine said.

"Joe, quit training my detective, one of you like this is bad enough, I can't have two of you in the department this way." Pantangelo said.

Joe gave a bark of laughter, "I don't know what you are talking about. I'm not training anyone."

"Bullshit!" Pantangelo reached for the spiral notebook on Antoine's desk and looked at what he wrote on it, Antoine made a grab for it and missed it. Pantengelo read the tid-bits of information and saw what programs Antoine had listed and checked for which the information had been put into. He tossed the pad back to the desk. He looked over to Joe, "This has to do with Ramono doesn't it?"

"That kid doesn't belong to them." Joe said and kept working on the computer opening up another database while the one he just finished with was still running.

"Do you have proof, or are you working on one of your gut feelings?" Pantangelo asked.

"Gut feeling." Joe told him.

Pantangelo hung his head, "I hate your gut feelings, they always turn out to be right." He looked back over to Antoine, "You want to work with Joe on this, I'll let you. Make sure you keep a copy of all the paperwork on the murder cases the feds are going to come demanding on Monday." He stood up, "We get anything coming in and I can't shuffle desks around, you two are going to have to put this on hold."

Joe looked up at the Pantangelo, "I'm on vacation. I have a week, unless something comes up that you need me for, other than Shiropolli, vice has been a little slow. Guns R Us and Drugs R Us have been keeping quiet."

"Working vacation it is for you, I hate when you do these working vacations." He looked at Antoine, "Don't think you can get away with this shit. You have to prove yourself to me first."

Antoine nodded.

Pantangelo put the chair back behind the desk he retrieved it from. "I'll leave you two at it." He walked away.

Antoine looked at Joe from around his computer and saw that Joe had a grin on his face. "How often do you do things like this?" Antoine asked him.

"Often enough. Notice he didn't say I couldn't do this." Joe looked at Antoine, "Just get those programs running and we'll take the printouts and go do something while we look through all of them. I'm not staying in this station the rest of the day. Anyone comes in and sees me at the computer all day and it'll tarnish my image."

"We wouldn't want that." Antoine chuckled and went back to hitting keys.


	20. Chapter 20

This was the last hotel, the very last hotel in Atlantic City, Alex saw Ranger come out of it. The more hotels they stopped at the more his anger was starting to come through. His jaw was set again and she could see the slight grinding motion that was working in it. Alex picked back up the book she took from Vinnie's house. Neither Lester nor Ranger had tried to take it from her. They didn't realize she even had it until they were away from the shore. She had finally reached the part were Clifford told Constance (his wife who is referred to as Connie) that he wanted a child, an heir. Alex laughed at this, the man was in constant need of care and was dependant on his nurse. Clifford was in fact telling his wife to have an affair in order to get pregnant and not only that, trying to make sure his wife found someone who was above average in intelligence. Alex flinched when Ranger wrung open the door to the SUV.

Lester had been looking at Alex when she had laughed at the book in her hand, "Where did you get that book?" He looked over to Ranger who didn't look too happy. "No go?"

"Found it." Alex said in the slow drug induced haze and stuck her nose back in it.

Ranger slammed the door shut. "No. I'm sure she is here though in this damn city someplace."

Alex snickered again.

Ranger turned and glared at her. "Would you put that damn book up. Did you take that out of Vinnie's house?"

Lester looked over at Ranger, he knew Ranger wasn't happy with what Stephanie had done, but he was letting his anger spill over towards Alex.

"Don't yell at Alex because you are upset with Stephanie." Lester told Ranger. Lester looked back at Alex who now had the book up hiding her face. He moved to the back seat and read the title of the book. "Lady Chatterley's Lover? Alex did you take this book from Vinnie's house?"

Ranger and Lester both watched her as she lowered the book to the point only her blue eyes were showing over it. "I'm only borrowing it. Besides, I want to see who Connie goes to bed with to produce the heir that Clifford so desperately wants."

Ranger looked at Lester, "Get that book from her. That was in Vinnie's house and there is no damn way I'm letting her read trash like that." Ranger turned back in the front seat and started the SUV.

Lester made a grab for the book and Alex went over the second seat and went to the very back seat.

"It isn't trash. Besides, I want to see why this book went all the way up to the United States Supreme Court for being banned after it was written. Call it research." Alex slurred out.

Lester leaned over the back seat, "If it was banned then there is a good reason for it. Vinnie would have something like that in his house. Now give it here!"

"When was that book written?" Ranger growled out from the drivers seat.

"In 1928, so it can't be that bad." Alex said as her speech was getting progressively slower.

Lester grinned, the medication was taken a hold of her more now. He turned back around in his seat, as soon as she crashed he would take the book. "She has a point, it can't be that bad written back then."

"Right! I'm surprised she didn't pick up any of the Marquis De Sade, he wrote back in the 1700s and his stuff was sick Lester. Vinnie had Marquis De Sade in that room. This is Vinnie's book, get it from her." Ranger slammed on the brakes as the car in front of him came to a stop. "Son of Bitch! When will people learn to drive."

"What is your problem?" Lester asked, he had never seen Ranger get so angry like this.

"We've looked in every damn hotel, I know she's in this city." Lester saw Ranger work his jaw even more and noticed the white crease lines in Ranger's knuckles as he gripped the steering wheel. "I can't find her. She's never hidden this well before."

_He's pissed because Stephanie is getting the better of him. She's outsmarting him. _Lester thought. "Don't take it out on Alex and everyone around you because you are pissed at yourself for not being able to find Stephanie."

Hearing the snicker behind him, Lester turned to look back at Alex. She wasn't reading the book, she was holding it in front of her face. "What's so funny Alex?" Lester asked, hoping the mood in the SUV would get a little lighter. He didn't like seeing Ranger so upset, he didn't want Ranger taking his wrath on anyone who didn't deserve it though.

"Maybe she's doing what I did." Alex said slowly and snickered again. "Maybe she's really hiding right under his nose." She closed the book, her eyes looked glassy and glazed over.

Ranger pulled over to the side of the road and put his head back on the driver's seat and concentrated on breathing. "Alex how do you think she's hiding under my nose?" Ranger growled out, but with less force.

Lester looked back from Alex to Ranger, he could tell Ranger was starting to get some of his pent up anger back under control.

"If it was me, I wouldn't be using my real name to hide. I'd be using one the person looking for me would least suspect." Lester watched as Alex laid back in the seat, he knew she was going under fast.

"What name would you use Alex?" Lester asked and reached over the back seat and took the book out of her hand that now went limp.

"His." Was all Alex got out as the pain medication took her totally under.

Lester looked at Ranger and moved back to the passenger seat with the book and put it in the glove compartment. "Whose name did you look under at the hotels?"

"Hers." Ranger looked over at Lester. "She wouldn't use my name, maybe Morelli's."

"What makes you think she would use Morelli's?" Lester asked, "She isn't really hiding from him now is she. She's hiding from you. Besides, it is worth a shot, let's go back through the hotels. Maybe Alex is right. If you think about it, it would be the last thing any of us would expect from Stephanie. She's hiding from the feds and she's hiding from you."

Ranger didn't say anything. He pulled back out in traffic and headed back for the hotel lane. Lester waited in the SUV as Ranger went back in checking hotel after hotel, on the fifth one Ranger came back out grinning. Lester had the window rolled down. "Well?" he asked.

"I owe Alex. God she was right. Stephanie is in here," Ranger held up the key. "She used my last name."

Lester grinned, "So how are we going to handle this?"

"I've called Tank, he's on the way." Ranger told him. "Bobby is going to be pissed and I don't want Stephanie and Lula getting hurt. Is Alex still out of it?"

"Yes, she's sleeping away now. She should be out for at least an hour, maybe a little more." Lester said.

"That'll give Tank enough time to get here. I'll let him handle Lula, I'll get Stephanie and you and Alex can handle Bobby. It would be better off if Bobby isn't in the same vehicle with them on the way back."

Alex sat up, the voices still sounded like they were in a well. "That's it, come on sleepy head." Lester told her.

She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"How many pills did she take?" Tank asked, "There is no way she's going to be able to go in that room."

_What room?_ Alex thought. She looked over to Ranger who was watching her with his arms crossed over his chest, Tank was in the same standing position as well. Lester was sitting in the second seat with his hand tugging on hers.

"Come on," Lester said. "We have to go get Bobby out of that room so Ranger and Tank can deal with Stephanie and Lula."

Alex pulled her hand out of Lester's and rubbed her eyes. She got out of the SUV and looked up at Ranger, "You found her."

"Yes, she used my name."

Alex gave a snort. "You need to start thinking crafty, sneaky, wily, how else do you expect to catch a woman."

Lester got out and stood behind her, he saw Ranger grin down at her. Tank was smiling. "How are we going to do this?" Lester asked them as he shut the SUV door.

Ranger looked at him, "I go in first, Tank comes in next. I want you and Alex in last. I go after Stephanie. Tank gets Lula. You two have to find Bobby and get him out of that room before he explodes."

"Let's do it." Lester said.

Lester felt a little nervous, he knew Bobby would be really pissed off. He followed Ranger and Tank into the elevator with Alex trailing a little way behind them. He had left the distance at two hundred feet on the ankle monitor. She had been staying within five feet of him when they exited out of the elevator. He saw Ranger open the door with the key he had.

"Babe!" Ranger had said as soon as he went into the room, Tank following, he heard Tank say "Lula!"

"Stay close, and dodge anything." Lester said as he took off into the room. Alex came in and saw Stephanie dancing around the couch keeping it between herself and Ranger. Tank already had Lula and was pulling her to the other side of the room. Alex followed Lester around the coffee table and towards another door.

Lester could hear Stephanie's voice that was rather high pitched with a twinge of fear in it. "Stay over there, Ranger. Don't come around that couch."

Lester turned to look as he reached the door and saw Ranger dive over the couch after Stephanie. He saw Ranger pin Stephanie in the dive and had her on the floor with her underneath him and her arms up over her head.

"You didn't say not to go over it." Ranger growled at her. "What were you thinking? Do you realize how angry Bobby is going to be with you? Why did you do this to one of my men?"

Lester opened the door and went inside. Alex followed him and stopped short. Both of them were looking at Bobby who was laying in the middle of the bed knocked out. He had what looked like a diaper on. His hands and feet were bound. Drool oozed out of his mouth and other than that he had no clothes on. Alex gave a bark of laughter and turned towards the door. "I'm not staying in here."

Lester grabbed the back of his shirt she had on and pulled her to him and shut the door. "You'll be better off in here than out there." Lester couldn't help the laughter that was coming out as he spoke.

Alex looked back to the bed, "What did they do with his clothes?"

"I haven't a clue." Lester said through his snicker. "But we have to do something."

"I'm not touching him." Alex said.

"You won't have to touch him." Lester said.

Stephanie was glaring up at Ranger, "It's all her fault, if she wouldn't have taken my cell phone chip out of the phone Bobby wouldn't be here."

"Babe," Ranger said, "you can't blame this on Alex. She didn't make you dress Bobby up in a dress." He fought through his anger because he had to laugh at this one. "That was mean Babe. Bobby only stayed because you didn't need to be left alone."

"I don't need a babysitter." Stephanie started shifting under him, trying to get out of his grasp. "Get off of me."

"No." Ranger told her. "You owe me. You owe me big. Live in fear."

Ranger saw Stephanie's eyes go wide. He watched as she swallowed hard. Ranger reached back with one hand, while keeping her arms pinned down above her head with the other, and pulled out the cuffs. She started fighting more but he had the cuffs around her wrists.

"What are you going to do to me?" Stephanie asked her voice raising an octave above normal.

"It's not a matter of what I'm going to do to you as to what I'm going to do with you." Ranger grinned at the astonished look on her face. "We'll just have to get another room, Mrs. Manoso!"


	21. Chapter 21

_Mrs. Manoso! That's how he found me. I didn't think he would look for that, I thought I was being pretty crafty at using his last name to stay hidden._ Stephanie thought. _Must haven't been crafty enough._

Ranger was watching the intense look Stephanie had on her face. She had stopped struggling against him and Ranger sat up on his legs, he looked over to the door Lester and Alex went inside and could here the laughter inside the room. He looked back to Stephanie, "What all did you do to Bobby?" He asked when she wasn't responding to the Mrs. Manoso comment.

Stephanie moved her head to look at the door. "I didn't do anything to him." She looked back at Ranger. "Honest, I didn't."

"Oh you be lying," Lula said from Tank's lap.

Ranger reached into his back pocket and pulled out the photo of Bobby and showed it to Stephanie. Stephanie's eyes grew wide in astonishment. "He wasn't being very nice, he kept saying he was going to lock me up in a safe house. I don't like to be locked up, I have claustrophobia. It was his own fault, he shouldn't have threatened me."

"Babe, I know not to declare war with you. But…" he stopped, "you really need to be punished for this. I don't like it when people under my employ have been used in such a fashion."

"You tell her," Lula said again, "she had so many things she wanted to do to him."

"And you helped." Tank growled in Lula's ear. "Didn't bother to call me back, you have a phone and it works."

Ranger looked over to Lula, "I'll let Tank decide your punishment."

Lula huffed, "I only helped, it wasn't like I came up with any of that shit. She's lost it, she's a woman on the edge. I tell you, breaking up with Morelli, then fighting with you, then trying to get her revenge on a kid. I think falling on her head wasn't such a good thing."

Tank put the front of his head on the back of Lula's. Ranger could tell Tank was snickering since the both of them were moving with his controlled laughter.

"She broke up with Morelli," He looked back down at Stephanie who had her eyes pinched shut.

"Lula, I told you, you couldn't tell anyone." Stephanie groaned out, "and quit talking. You aren't helping matters here. I don't see you handcuffed."

"What all did you two do to Bobby?" Tank asked Lula.

"She's the one who electrocuted his ass, I only went along with it when he started getting all hostile. Then he started getting pissy when the taser broke, and the pepper spray don't work on him. And then when we got to Vinnie's that dress was calling out to Stephanie, it was my idea to add the boa. Can't have no dress like that without a boa." Lula said.

"God forbid." Tank said laughing, "What else?"

Lester opened the door from the room still laughing, holding the pink dress in his hands. "Bobby doesn't have any clothes other than this."

"You better go to the SUV and pull a bag out and see what you can put him in. I don't think he wants to wear that home." Ranger said laughing at seeing the dress.

Lula looked at the dress, "I think you better get rid of that dress, that was in Vinnie's house, on account of we went snooping. We found it in the bedroom."

Lester went back into the room and pulled Alex out with him, she was laughing and holding her ribs. "Please don't make me go back in that room. It hurts too much to go back in there. I can't believe you two put him in a diaper."

A hand went over her mouth, "Hush! You wasn't supposed to say that." Lester drug her from the room.

"A diaper?" Ranger looked down at Stephanie, "You didn't!"

"It was a Depends, not a diaper." Stephanie told him, "he kept getting uncontrollable in the bathroom and I wasn't about to shake Mr. Droopy."

"Of course, why didn't I think of that." Ranger stated. He looked over to Tank, "You have any idea's for punishments yet?"

"For Lucy or for Ethel?" Tank asked laughing.

_I know I'm not the worlds greatest when it comes to bounty hunting, but to hear Tank refer to us as Lucy and Ethel. Okay, so we really do act like Lucy and Ethel at times. But still, we aren't that bad. Are we?_ Stephanie thought. "I don't think any punishment is necessary. No harm done. Bobby isn't dead, he's perfectly fine asleep in the next room."

Ranger grabbed the inner part of the cuffs that bound Stephanie's wrists. "You have to be punished. Both of you. You both did this together and part of this punishment will be done together." He said as he stood the both of them up.

"You are going to send us to a third world country aren't you?" Stephanie asked with trepidation.

"No, a third world country couldn't handle you. You would drive them crazy." Ranger said as he moved over to the couch and pulled her down so she fell into his lap. "No, I'm thinking more along the lines of running." He said wickedly.

"I hate running. Running isn't good." Stephanie said then changed her mind quickly at seeing the evil grin Ranger had on his face. "Wait, running is great, better than a third world country. Running is really good, I love to run. I live to run."

"Ah!" Tank said, "neither one of you like to run. I say we have defense lessons at our gym, twice a week."

Lester walked back in with a bag and had Alex following him, when Lula said. "Defense? What do we need defense for? That's what them tasers and spray is for, that's what a purse is for. It's all multi-purpose, good for breaking things, good for hitting things, I don't need no defense. It's Stephanie who don't know what to do."

"What happens when you don't have a purse handy?" Alex asked not being able to resist.

Lester grabbed her wrist, "Stay out of this." He started pulling her to the room and Alex reached and grabbed her fist with her other hand and released the hold. Lester looked at her. "You want that five feet back in place?"

"Lester, leave Alex in here. I think you need to take care of Bobby." Ranger had watched what she did.

Lula was huffed. Stephanie was looking at Alex. "It's all your fault, none of this would have happened if it hadn't been for you. My life would have been fine."

Alex went as far as the bedroom door and Lester closed it behind him. She turned back and looked at Stephanie. "I agree part of this is my fault, but I'm not taking responsibility for putting Bobby in a diaper."

"IT WAS A DEPENDS!" Stephanie yelled at her and tried to get out of Ranger's lap.

Ranger kept his hold on her and clamped a hand over Stephanie's mouth. "You are going to take partial responsibility for this Alex?"

"Sure. I didn't make them do what they did, but none of this would have happened if I didn't break Gaspick's arm. And it wasn't like he was letting me explain that either." She sat down next to the door. "What was I supposed to do when I had gotten jumped by three rival gang members of the Slayers and then he comes wadding in the fight. I slowed my hammer fist down but it was too late, I still broke his arm."

"Lucy and Ethel need defense lessons. Nothing fancy, but I think it would be better if you helped. Since you helped find Lucy here, I think you already worked off part of that. What do you say?" Ranger asked Alex.

"How much?" Alex asked him.

"Free."

"I get paid thirty an hour for personal instruction. I'm not working for free, you take thirty an hour off from that hundred grand." Alex stared at him.

"I'll give you fifty an hour and you'll have to run with them as well. I'll also find other things for you to do in order to pay back that hundred grand. Consider yourself an employee for RangeMan. Only you wont be getting any money for a long time." Ranger said.

"Fine. But I never asked for you to pay that. If you recall I was telling you no."

"I know. But since you offered, it'll have to be paid back now." Ranger told her.

Lester had carried Bobby out of the hotel in a fireman hold after he had dressed him. Bobby had been awake for an hour now and the pain medication had worn off. It was three in the afternoon and Lester had suggested taking Bobby some place public so he wouldn't create world war three. Alex went along with it, but she wanted nothing to do with this idea, she only suggested the place.

Crystals Pizza House was located on the north side of Trenton. It was a family establishment that had a large dining area, small dance floor, and two small movie theaters which were located on the second floor. One theater played nonstop cartoons while the other played nonstop music videos. The other half of the upstairs played host to the nickel arcade, which played host to numerous families. Off from the dining establishment downstairs they had a private room with several pool tables. Crystals was one of the hot spots, cheap food, cheap drinks, and cheap entertainment. One of the best places to bring the family and let the kids run wild while the adults could do their own thing.

Bobby was sitting at a table in the far back of the main room. The place wasn't overly crowded but the summer school kids were running all over the place. A few adults were scattered at tables every now and then. "Son of a bitch! I can't believe Stephanie and Lula pulled this shit on me. On me. I was only doing my job." Bobby growled out.

Lester refilled the beer in front of Bobby. They had a pitcher of beer on the table along with three big pizza pies. Alex was sitting as far away from Bobby as possible and trying hard to blend into the tablecloth. She was waiting for Bobby to explode and kept shaking her head at Lester.

"You need to calm down. Lets get drunk and forget about the whole thing." Lester told him in a calm voice.

Bobby picked up the glass and drained half of it. "How do you expect me to forget about something like that? My ass is still half numb from all the damn times I got fucking electrocuted from that fucking taser."

"At least your still alive." Alex said quietly.

"Just drink Bobby, eat the pizza." Lester said and looked over to Alex. "Hush!" he hissed at her.

Bobby glowered at Alex, "I don't want to hear anything from you. Women are not to be trusted as far as I'm concerned right now. You are crafty, do the worst possible things you can imagine, you are sick, and depraved. You are in the same boat as Lula and Stephanie. I don't care if you aren't a full grown woman yet, you'll be one, one day."

Lester groaned, Bobby was now going to be on his soapbox. _I hate when he does this women are the bane of society bit._ Lester thought. "Leave Alex alone."

"Why? Alex was the one who took Stephanie Plum's damn cell phone chip." Bobby hit the table with his fist. The table shook and tipped over the pitcher of beer and Lester and Bobby's glass. Alex was holding her coke and pushed back away from the table.

Joe turned to look at Bobby, the man was getting louder and louder by the second. Antoine was looking over there now as well. Joe hadn't been here in ages and Antoine said he wanted to come here, Joe had agreed with it. When they had come in he hadn't seen Alex sitting with Lester and Bobby. _That was why Stephanie didn't answer her phone, I thought it was because she forgot to charge it like normal._ Joe thought.

Lester was sopping up the beer on the table with as many napkins as he could find, he stood up and grabbed another black container from the table next to them and proceeded to pull the whole lot out and kept trying to clean up the beer. "Bobby! What did you expect, she was trying to not get caught at the time."

Alex stood up, "Forget it Lester. Bobby, dump it all on me. It's all my fucking fault everything is so screwed up in the world. I can't help it if I'm female and think like crafty viper."

Lester watched as Alex stormed off. He looked at the receiver on his wrist and then switched it so Alex would have plenty of room to stay inside the place but wouldn't get zapped.

"Smooth, Bobby, real smooth." Lester told him.

"Well it's true." Bobby hit the table again. "I didn't see you volunteering for babysitting Stephanie."

Joe didn't listen to anymore of Bobby and Lester. He watched as Alex stormed away from the table. _The kid is going to have a complex if she hangs around Bobby in that foul mood he is in. As much as I'd like to hear what Stephanie did, better opportunities have came my way. _Joe thought. He nodded to Antoine and both of them left their table. They followed Alex as she made her way to the pool room. Joe watched her enter the room and go to the far side near the pool sticks and sit down at a small table, she lifted her left leg and pushed up Lester's pants she had on and started scratching around the monitor trying to itch it underneath.

"I hate this damn thing." Alex hissed. "Damn piece of shit."

"I didn't know you could wear police monitors outside of the house." Alex heard the slow Cajun drawl and lifted her head and narrowed her eyes as Antoine approached. She took in his light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, the soft blue eyes, and the oval face that was clean shaven. She looked further down to his chest that wasn't overly developed from what she could make out from his polo he had on, down to his waist that had a clip on the belt that had his police badge showing.

"I didn't know they allowed Creoles within the Jersey limits." Alex snapped back and covered the monitor with the pants again.

Joe had coughed covering up a laugh and Alex's gaze settled on him. She noticed the wavy black hair, deep brown eyes, and the scar over his left eyebrow. His face was chiseled handsome, he wore a dark blue t-shirt that was tucked into his jeans, she didn't see a badge at his waist like his partner had.

_Great, just what I need, two cops. Two cops who can't mind their own business._ Alex thought.

"Good ear." Antoine said, "You are very observant. Want to shoot some pool?"

_I insult him and now he compliments me. He must be good cop, bad cop hasn't said anything yet. _Alex thought.

"Not with you and your partner, I don't know what you want. But I didn't do it." Alex moved and went over to the pool sticks and picked one out and moved to another table putting one in between her and the two men.

Joe grinned at her, "You have a problem with police officers or just anyone in authority positions? You feeling guilty about something?"

Alex ignored his question and started racking the balls. _Good cop, bad cop. Bad cop is more assessing though. _Alex thought as she looked back over at Joe who was still grinning at her.

_She doesn't like police officers and is now evading. Was this a learned trait or does she come by this naturally. _Joe thought as he went over to the wall and picked up two sticks and threw one to Antoine. Joe moved to the table beside hers, he had his back towards Alex but he could feel her eyes watching him.

"You know, it's not much fun playing by yourself. No competition." Joe said, looking at Antoine and not watching Alex.

"At least I'm assured victory this way." Alex said and she looked up at Joe as he chuckled. "It wasn't that funny."

Joe spun around and leaned up against the table that Antoine was now racking the balls on. "No, but it was witty."

Alex stood up from leaning over the table, she put the cue sticks thick end on the floor and held the cue standing in front of her. She stared directly at Joe, "Okay bad cop, now you want to be good cop. Why can't you just stick with whatever role you want to play with and stay with it?"

"Where would the fun be in that?" Joe asked her.


	22. Chapter 22

_Where would the fun be? He is so full of it. _Alex thought. She leaned back over the table and lined up a shot. She set the cue ball in motion and missed the shot she was taking.

"Maybe you need to stay over there, wouldn't want to show you up with that assured victory." Joe said and turned back around towards Antoine.

Antoine shook his head, "Leave her alone, I don't think she knows how to play with the big boys."

Alex closed her eyes and bit down on a comment. She lined up another shot and sunk the ball this time.

"She made one." Joe said and went to the other end to break up the pile of balls. He glanced over at Alex who was now lining up her third shot, which went in as well. "Two in a row, she's on a roll with that ghost of an opponent she has."

Antoine coughed behind his fist.

Alex laid the cue stick on the green felt and leaned over the far side of the table. "What do you want from me?"

"We just wanted to play a game of pool." Antoine said. "Never said we wanted anything other than that."

_Great, good cop only knows good cop role. Bad cop can play them both. _Alex thought. "I'm not buying that. You two want something and I want to know what it is?"

Joe took his next shot, he looked over at her stance she had on the table. _Very hostile and very untrusting. She's willing to take the blame for something Stephanie actually did to Bobby. Her whole world is turning upside down. _Joe thought. _She's very intuitive though, assessing as well._ He looked up at Antoine and arched a brow. _Play careful with this._

"You're right." Antoine said, "we do want something. First, we want to make sure you are okay since your mother was found murdered in y'alls apartment."

_They're detectives. Breath at least it is not the feds. _Alex thought. "I'm fine." She said as she stood back up and picked up the cue stick. Alex went back to lining up a shot and missed.

Joe watched her as she missed. _She doesn't like this, but she's not walking out of the room._ Joe thought.

"You don't look to be doing to good there, kiddo. Have you seen a doctor?" Antoine asked.

"Yes." Alex said and took another shot and missed. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and let it out slowly and lined up another shot.

"Do you know anything about what happened to your mother?" Antoine asked.

Alex looked up at him, "You told me she was murdered." Alex looked back down and took the shot and made this one.

Joe missed his shot and then stood up away from the table. _She didn't like her mother, at least not the woman who was raising her. _Joe thought.

"You didn't like her did you?" Joe asked her, wanting confirmation.

Alex missed the cue ball altogether and the cue stick spread blue chalk on the green felt. She looked over to Joe. _I evaded knowing anything about my mother's murder. How did he pick up on me not liking her? I fucking hated her. _Alex thought. _If I answer that they'll ask me if I killed her. _

"I'm not answering that." Alex told him, "you have a problem with that and you can talk to my lawyer."

Joe grinned at her answer. _She is smart, very clever girl._ Joe thought and then replied, "Touché."

"We aren't accusing you of anything." Antoine frowned at her. "You have every right to keep your feelings about how you feel about your mother to yourself."

Alex looked back over to Antoine. "I intend too." Alex brushed off the blue chalk and chalked the cue again. She turned away from them giving her back to both of them.

Joe watched as she took measured breaths, he moved over near her table, he saw her look sharply at him and he paused. "I don't want to see you get hurt anymore than what you already have."

"Why would you even care?" Alex asked him and turned away from him, she didn't want to look into his eyes. _Damn it, he had the same look in his eyes that James had when I started at the karate school. It isn't pity, he actually cares, I can see it in his eyes._ Alex thought.

Lester walked into the room and heard what Alex had asked. He could feel the tension in the room. _Jesus! What have they been doing with her? If they've been questioning her without her lawyer, I'm a dead man. Her lawyer will have my hide._ Lester thought as he moved closer to the group.

"Because I think life has dealt you a hand of cards that no kid should be put through. Your life hasn't been easy, yet you've found the drive and the determination to go through it anyway. You have resilience inside you that most people never dream of having. I admire that. That is something worth caring about, something worth to seeing it grow. To see what you do with your life." Joe told her.

_Now he sees what I see. _Lester thought. "Hey Morelli." He walked over to Alex as she spun around looking to see who would answer Lester.

_Why did he have to show up now? Just when I'm possibly about to get through to this kid. _Joe thought.

"Hey Santos." Joe said.

_This is Joseph Morelli. _Alex thought, her brow creased as she looked him over again. She took in the alpha male posture he took up with Lester, the subtle way he seemed to take charge in the room now. _Ranger had said not to judge him, not until I had his side, he said he was a good guy. He can play good cop, bad cop, and he actually cares. Ranger said he was worried._

Joe looked at Alex, he wished he knew what she was thinking. She hadn't had that look the first time she had assessed him when he walked into the room.

"I got Bobby calmed down now. You ready to finish eating? I even ordered new pizza, so no beer covered pizza." Lester asked Alex. He could see she was curious about Joe, he watched as she looked at him, drinking him in. "Unless you want to stay and finish the game."

Alex looked at Lester and then over to Joe.

"I wouldn't want to deprive you of being fed. It's up to you, I meant what I said Alex." Joe said.

Alex felt torn, she was hungry, but at the same time she didn't want to let this opportunity pass by. This was the man on her birth certificate. He didn't know yet, didn't know what was coming on Monday.

Lester leaned up against the table facing away from Joe and Antoine, Alex was standing beside him still looking at Joe. He was curious as to what she would be thinking. _She has the upper hand on him at the moment. Joe thinks she doesn't belong to Ramono, Ranger told me while Alex was asleep what Joe had told him. Alex has a little bit more of an advantage, not by much though. She isn't answering, I'll have to see if Joe wants to eat with us._ Lester thought.

"Have you eaten yet, Morelli?" Lester asked.

"No, we only split a pitcher of beer. Is this an invitation?" Joe asked while still watching Alex. _Invite us. I don't want to break the contact yet. We have one runaway that looks promising, and five possible missing children so far that she can match too. _Joe thought.

"More the merrier." Lester said and turned and looked at Antoine. "Who are you? I haven't seen you around."

"Antoine Lebeau, I haven't been around long." Antoine told him.

Alex broke eye contact with Joe and walked over to the wall and put the cue stick back in the rack. _Lester solved my problem. It would be better to talk with him some more, but I don't want to answer questions on my mother's murder._ Alex thought.

"Lester Santos," Lester introduced himself to Antoine who gave a nod in response. Lester walked over to Alex and put his arm around her shoulder and she started walking out of the poolroom. He leaned in and whispered to her, "I don't know what was going on before I came in, but I think this is a good opportunity for you to get to Morelli better. He doesn't know what is coming on Monday. Don't let anything slip and you'll be fine. If they try to interrogate you, let me handle it."

Joe watched as Lester walked out of the room whispering to Alex. _She doesn't need any help Santos. She has a sharp mind and can think for herself, she didn't fall into my trap about her mother. Threatened me with the lawyer already. _Joe thought.

"Telling her secrets?" Antoine asked to Lester.

Lester looked back at Antoine as he released Alex and slowed his pace letting her go ahead of them. He fell back beside Antoine, "No secrets, but if you try to interrogate her without her lawyer present, I'll have your ass." He didn't say anything to Joe, he knew Joe, at least knew him enough to know that he wouldn't compromise himself in putting any blame on Alex for the things that has been happening. Lester didn't know Antoine and didn't trust him.

Joe grinned, Antoine had only been playing good cop, he was the one who had been playing the bad cop role with Alex. Antoine raised his hands, "I'm not going to violate the rights of a fifteen year old that doesn't have a legal guardian."

"See that you don't." Lester told him.

They all sat around the table again. Alex had chosen the seat across from Bobby who looked to be slap happy and intoxicated, not what he was earlier. He started in on the pizza as the waitress brought over the three pies. Lester sat down on Alex's left side and Joe moved to her right and Antoine pulled up another chair putting himself in between Bobby and Joe.

Alex picked up a slice of pizza and looked at Bobby, "Feeling better?" she asked.

"Yes." Bobby told her as he grinned evilly at her. "Ranger called. You get to take Stephanie and Lula running in the morning."

Alex saw the grin, heard Joe cough into the pizza he had taken a bite of and Lester snickering. Antoine looked around the table totally lost.

"They don't like to run, do they?" Alex asked.

Joe gave a bark of laughter after he swallowed the slice of pizza he was working on. "Stephanie and Lula's idea of exercise is shopping at the mall." Joe said.

"Running is at the top of the list for things to avoid at all costs." Lester told her.

Alex groaned and slumped in the chair she was sitting in. Bobby was still grinning at her. "Tuesdays and Thursdays are defense training days." Bobby informed her. "I have a few ideas on defenses they need to learn, I get to set up their defense program."

She took a bite of the pizza and chewed thoughtfully. "This is all over the cell phone chip. I should have put it back in before I left." She looked at Lester, "I don't know where it is now."

Lester laughed.

"Is this retribution on Stephanie and Lula for what they did to you Bobby?" Joe asked.

"Yes." Bobby slurred out, "Fucking retribution. At least he isn't hurting them. The last time someone did something to one of us that was considered on the lines of slow torture Ranger broke their legs. That was with Marcus down in Miami."

Joe looked over to Alex, "How did you get the joy in all of this retribution?"

Alex finished the second piece of pizza and pulled a third, "I opened my mouth and inserted my foot. Guilty conscious I guess."

_She really thinks this is her fault, she didn't ask Stephanie to do any of those things. Stephanie does what Stephanie wants to do. _Joe thought. "You aren't responsible for what happened to Brown."

Alex kept eating the pizza.

"Not directly." Bobby slurred out.

Alex finished the third piece and took another slice. Joe watched as she started on the fourth. Lester glared at Bobby, Alex wasn't talking now. She had gone quiet again. Lester leaned back in his chair and looked at Alex who kept eating. After she finished off three more slices he had enough of her silence.

"Morelli is right and Bobby is right, but you can't hold yourself totally responsible for what happened." Lester said.

"You can't control the actions of others," Antoine said in a soft sweet voice.

Alex looked sharply over towards Antoine. Lester heard the softness in Antoine's voice and saw the look in Alex's eyes.

Joe sat up a little straighter. _Where did that come from? She only had indifference in her eyes in the pool room towards Antoine earlier. She didn't have that wary look as if waiting for something to happen. _Joe thought. _Time to change the subject._

"Have you heard of a Jessie Randolph?" Joe asked. He watched as Alex looked over to him and noticed the wariness in her eyes had went away.

"Never heard of him." Alex said.

Joe grinned, "Not him, her."

"Not a clue, am I supposed to know this person?" Alex asked.

"You kind of look like her." Antoine said in the same soft sweet voice he used earlier.

Joe saw the wariness return in her eyes and she looked back at Joe. "They say everyone has a twin somewhere, I'm not her." Alex said.

Joe turned and glared at Antoine. Antoine shrugged. Alex watched the two of them.

_Morelli is in charge here, he had to be in charge in the poolroom. I thought it was Antoine but he's the one driving this little bus. _Alex thought. _What are they after now? Why is he asking this?_

"You know anyone by the names of Graciano, Espindola, or Friatolli?" Joe asked as he glanced back to her.

Alex sat up, "I know a Graciano, his name is Edward. We call him Eddie Spigedward at the karate school. He had a kid sister who used to go there as well until she came up missing." Alex picked up her coke and took a drink. She watched as both Joe and Antoine leaned forward looking intently at her. "I thought you two worked homicide. What are you fishing for now?"

"Fishing," Bobby slurred three sheets in the wind now. "I can take you fishing."

Alex snickered at Bobby and turned to Lester, "He's shitfaced."

"Yes he is." Lester laughed.

Joe stood up and Antoine followed him. "I think we'll leave now. Brown needs a ride home."

Alex watched both of them as they started walking away. "You didn't answer my question," Alex called out.

Joe stopped then turned back around, "I'm not answering that. You have a problem with that and you can talk to my lawyer."

"Hey, that's my line." Alex grinned at him.

Joe laughed, "You were supposed to say, touché." He turned and walked off with Antoine.


	23. Chapter 23

"That's four names we can check off," Antoine said after they came out of Crystals.

Joe walked over to his SUV and Antoine leaned up against his Mustang which was next to Joe's SUV. "I wonder if Peterson asked Alex about Graciano. I wasn't expecting her to know any of the names if she wasn't one of them. I didn't think she would actually know the kid who came up missing."

Antoine crossed his arms, "I wasn't expecting that either, I was hoping to get a little more out of her than we did while shooting pool though."

Joe grinned, "She is a very clever girl."

"Yes," Antoine said, "More than what I expected. Did you see how she looked at me at the table in there?"

"I did." Joe let out a sigh, "I didn't like that look."

"It was like she expected me to jump over the table at her." Antoine said.

"I know."

"She ate half a large pizza. Where did she pack the food away? She got a hollow leg or something?" Antoine asked.

"I have no clue. Must be good metabolism." Joe said. "I'm running by the station and seeing if we have any more hits on the missings."

"Call me if anything good comes in, the runaway was a total bust." Antoine said pushing off from his car and going around to the driver side. "At least we got lucky in talking to her with no lawyer. You knew she was with Santos, is he the wind?"

Joe laughed, "No. You'll know the wind when you see him."

Lester half carried Bobby into the elevator back at RangeMan. Alex stepped inside and before she could hit the floor button Lester asked for the elevator went up.

"What button did you push?" Lester asked.

"I haven't. It just took off." Alex told him.

The elevator opened on the seventh floor, Ranger stopped short, then stepped inside. Lester could see the smug look on his face. Ranger hit the stop button so the elevator wouldn't move. "I need you, Tank has the next three days off." He looked Bobby over, "Damn, he said he was eating and only drinking a little bit. I didn't know he was going to go beyond drunk."

"I'm not drunk." Bobby slurred.

"What do you need me for?" Lester said as he shifted Bobby off his shoulder and pushed him up against the back of the elevator.

"I just got a call, Tommy and Paco reported in, Nelson is in his house. I need three other guys, you, Roy, and Cal."

Lester looked at Ranger, "What am I going to do about Alex? We can't take her into that."

Ranger grabbed the receiver off Lester's arm. "I need you, I need a ferret." He looked at Alex, "come with me."

Alex looked at Lester. Lester nodded to her. She followed Ranger into his apartment. He grabbed the remote to the TV. "Here watch TV." She caught the remote and sat down, she watched as Ranger walked down the hall and opened the door at the far end and went inside.

Ranger stepped into his bedroom, and he could hear the shower going. He looked back at the rumpled sheets and he wiped the satisfied smile off his face before knocking on the bathroom door. He heard the water cut off and then it opened. Stephanie was wrapped in a towel. "I don't think that was four or five hours."

He leaned up against the doorframe, "I'll give you that when I get back." He reached over to her hand and took it and snapped the receiver in place. "Alex is in the living room. I need Lester, so you get to watch her. You ladies have fun." He took the back of her head and kissed her deeply. Stepping back he saw the look she normally gave to glazed donuts and he strode away.

Alex sat in the living room, turning the remote over in her hands. It had too many buttons and she couldn't figure out how to work the thing. Ranger walked by, "Behave."

She watched him leave. Getting up, Alex started looking around. The bedroom was a pull, because she hadn't seen him walk back out with the receiver. After about ten minutes of looking into things she came to the conclusion that there really wasn't much here to tell her about who Ranger was.

Stephanie walked into the living room, Alex spun around and looked her over real well. She had on jeans, dock martins, and a black t-shirt. "Whose clothes are you wearing?" Stephanie asked.

Alex looked down and then back up to Stephanie, "I'll tell you whose clothes I'm wearing, only if you tell me why you had sex with Ranger if you aren't his girlfriend. Last I saw you were still cuffed."

"I'm not cuffed anymore." Stephanie moved over to the couch and picked up the remote and turned on the TV.

"I can see that." Alex went over to a chair and sat down. "So?"

"Where did you get the shoes? The last pair you had were white, those are black."

"Lester, he had to buy them." Alex said.

Stephanie flipped the channels. "Why?"

"How did you end up tossing in the sheets with Ranger?"

Stephanie put the remote down. "You are not going to give that up are you?"

"No. I tell you why I'm not wearing my clothes if you tell me what went down after we left." Alex leaned back in the chair.

Stephanie turned off the TV. "I need Chunky Monkey if I'm going to do this. Let's go."

Alex got up and followed Stephanie out of Ranger's apartment where she grabbed a set of keys. They rode the elevator down and got into the black Porsche Cayenne. Alex slid into the passenger seat. "Bitch'n car."

Stephanie gave a sigh as she heard the engine growl. "It's the shit."

"No. The shit refers to an ultra cool person. Bitch'n refers to cars. You refer to the shit to a car in the ghetto and they'd be all over your ass."

Stephanie looked over to Alex, "I'll file that away. Lula never said anything about that, I thought the shit really meant ultra cool on anything."

"Only people." Alex said as they pulled out from the garage. The car was silent as Stephanie drove. "So you have to go running tomorrow for your punishment?" Alex asked.

"No, that wasn't my punishment." Stephanie groaned. "My punishment hasn't happened. My punishment is talking to the Feds on Monday. Retribution is the running and defense."

Alex snickered. "Bobby said something about retribution."

Stephanie made a left turn and continued driving. "Whose clothes do you have on?"

"Lester's."

"And?"

"And how did you end up in the sheets with Ranger?"

"I don't think your old enough for that." Stephanie said as she made a right turn.

"It's not like I haven't had sex before. Damn, I don't want details, not on the act. I want to know what happened after we left the hotel about three hours ago to you ending up in Ranger's sheets. Because when I saw him, he was pissed as hell that you were giving him a run for his money." Alex turned in her seat and crossed her arms and watched Stephanie as she drove.

"While you were there, I thought my punishment was going to be the running and defense stuff. It didn't turn out that way. Ranger decided I needed to talk the feds after he asked why I decided to run away this time from finding a dead body." Stephanie turned into the parking lot of the Seven-Eleven and stopped the car.

"Why did you run?" Alex asked as they got out of the car. "Whose body did you find?"

"Your mother's body, and we ran because they were shooting at us." Stephanie told her when she shut the door.

Alex looked at Stephanie, "What did she look like?"

"Dead." Stephanie stopped walking to the door and looked back at Alex. Alex had her hands clenched at her side and her breathing was getting faster. Stephanie walked over to her, "She was laying on your bed with your black belt, the one that has your last name on it, inside her mouth."

Alex went past Stephanie, "I need something to drink."

Stephanie followed Alex into the store. Alex headed straight back to the cokes and pulled one out, she went down the chip isle and pulled out Fritos and two cans of large bean dip. Stephanie had gotten four pints of Chunky Monkey and loaded up on tasty cakes. They each paid for their purchases and went back to the Porsche. Alex opened the one-liter of coke and took a drink.

"You know that was a message left for you." Stephanie said as she started the car.

"I know. Will you drive me over there?"

"Why?"

"I'd rather have my own clothes instead of Lester's. I want to check on something." Alex told her.

"What do you want to check on?" Stephanie asked as she pulled out of the lot.

"What happened after you decided to talk to the feds?"

"We back on this again?"

"Yes." Alex said after she opened the bag of Fritos and a can of bean dip.

"Lula and I found out that retribution had to be taken into consideration for what we did to Bobby. Ranger told us normally what happens when someone messes with his employees and I decided that I like my legs whole and not broken. It was decided that Bobby could set up our defense lessons, with you as the go between." Stephanie said.

"I need to see if he left something behind other than her body." Alex said and continued eating the chips and dip.

"Do you know who killed your mother?" Stephanie asked.

"What happened after Bobby got to decide about the lessons?"

Stephanie groaned. "Okay Little Miss twenty questions. Ranger and I discussed our argument we had. We discussed me dragging Lula into it as well. Ranger gave Tank three days off to make up for the time he took Tank away from Lula. He also told Lula that when things came up, he would always make sure Tank would have opportunities to make it up to her. He put them up in a hotel in New York." Stephanie made a right turn and looked over to Alex, "Your turn."

"Scarface did it if my watch is in the apartment." Alex told her and took another long pull from the coke.

"Do you know his name?"

"No."

"Are you sure it's him?" Stephanie asked.

"Ranger gave Tank days off to be with Lula. What happened after that?"

"Ranger and I discussed my break up with Joe Morelli. He wanted to know if this was the last time. He had told me before that if I wasn't in Joe's bed he'd be back in mine. I told him I have a problem with commitment and that it wasn't that easy. He told me it wasn't me. We talked about that." Stephanie looked over to Alex, "Are you sure it's him?"

Alex kept her head down twirling the coke bottle cap in her fingers. "A week ago, or a little more than that. They had a man in the pit with me, I had only been putting them to sleep, I hadn't broken any bones. I didn't want to hurt Mr. Williams, I know his son, his son took lessons at the school. Scarface found out I knew him, after the first fight, he put us in the same room locked up together. Mr. Williams was borrowing money from Shiropolli to keep paying for his son's chemo treatments. He had lost his job and the insurance wasn't covering the treatments anymore. Mr. Williams told me that night that Danny was in remission." Alex wiped the tears that were coming down her cheeks. "I really didn't want to hurt him. I kept telling Mr. Williams I'd put him back to sleep again. He didn't want to hear it." Alex looked out the window.

"What happened after that?" Stephanie asked. She was close to the apartment complex, Stephanie kept driving deciding it would be better to let Alex talk.

"We were put back in the pit for the second time. I still couldn't hurt him, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Mr. Williams never hurt me. He kept telling me Danny only talked about coming back to karate after chemo, that he wanted to get his black belt like me. I couldn't hurt Danny's dad. After I put him asleep for the second time, Scarface took me to the room with Shiropolli. We had argued over Mr. Williams. He told me if I didn't hurt him, then he was going to make sure Scarface hurt me. And if I didn't do it, I wouldn't be fighting anymore. That I would have to work off that fucking bitch's debt double time, in the pit and in Scarface's bed. I didn't want to hurt him, I had too. In the third fight I broke his arm, clean through the skin, I put him to sleep as fast as I could afterward. I hurt him so bad."

Stephanie watched as Alex started curling up in the seat and reached over and took the chips, dip and the coke out of her lap as quickly as she could. She put the top back on the coke and sat it down in one of the drink holders the car had. Stephanie reached over and started rubbing Alex's back.

"It's not your fault, you didn't have a choice." Stephanie told her.

"Yeah I did. I think I chose the wrong one." Alex said as she curled up tighter. "Scarface took us back to the same room again. I had a piece of paper in my pocket and I wrote that I was sorry on it. I put it in Mr. William's shoe. When Scarface came back he had two other men with him. They took Mr. William's out. Scarface came over to me and he was so angry. He said I ruined it for him. I don't remember blacking out, but when I came too I was in a van, I was tied up and gagged. I saw Scarface shoot Mr. Williams in the head. He got back in the van, he told me I was special, that I needed to see what special things he could do. He said he knew how to keep people quiet and I wouldn't ever forget it."

Stephanie kept driving as Alex sobbed. She knew Alex's situation had been bad, she didn't realize how much Alex actually knew, until now. Stephanie drove for a little longer and pulled into the apartment complex.

"You sure you want to do this now?" Stephanie asked her as she stopped the car and turned it off.

Alex sat up and wiped her eyes. "Yes." She took a deep breath and let it out. Alex opened the door and got out.

Stephanie followed her, they reached the apartment and Alex reached over to the bricks by the window sill and pulled out the loose one and took the key out and opened the apartment door. She replaced the key and put the brick back. Alex went straight to her bedroom and stopped looking around. She saw the watch on the dresser.

"It was him."

"How do you know?" Stephanie asked coming up behind her.

"He brought my watch back."


	24. Chapter 24

Stephanie watched as Alex went over to the dresser and opened the drawers and started pulling clothes out tossing them on the bed behind her.

"You really need to talk to someone about this Alex. The police need to know what happened."

Alex turned and glared at Stephanie, "You got me sidetracked. I wouldn't have told you that stuff if you had not got me sidetracked. I don't talk, and you don't talk. You can't tell anyone what I told you."

"Don't you think Danny has a right to know what happened to his dad?" Stephanie asked.

Alex slammed the drawer on her dresser. "No damn it." Alex spun and looked at Stephanie. "He's fucking ten years old. He had to battle for his life, no damn it."

Alex stalked off to her closet, "You don't fucking understand. He'll kill me. Scarface picked me up with a dart gun." Alex came back out of the closet with clothes on hangers. "They drugged my ass to get me. They tried to pick me up two other times and couldn't do it. I knew they had that fucking bitch and they could keep her. I was set up to have divorce proceedings from her. She fucking ruined that with her stupid drug and gambling addiction."

"Let me tell someone then." Stephanie said as she came over to the bed and started taking the clothes off the hangers.

"No. That is still the same thing as me talking. No damn it. I gave you a hell of a lot more than you gave me. How did you end up in bed with Ranger? When did you break up with Joe Morelli?" Alex asked as she went back into her closet and pulled out two large duffle bags. One was full and she tossed it at the end of the bed. The other was empty and Alex started stuffing clothes into it.

Stephanie sat down on the bed. "I broke up with Joe when I called to report finding your mother's body. I tend to do that with him. I don't like having people make fun of me, I tend to find a lot of dead bodies and well it is easier to have someone you can tell on the inside. I don't like being given ultimatums, and Joe was doing that. So I broke up with him." She started folding some shirts as Alex was still stuffing clothes in the duffle.

"And?"

"When Ranger and I talked about my commitment issues, we talked about Joe. Joe and I could never mesh together when we wanted to make a commitment to each other. I wanted it one day and he wanted it the next day. It was a big cycle of staying in a rut." Stephanie looked at Alex. Alex had stopped putting clothes in the duffle bag and was watching her. "Ranger and I agreed to give us a shot, we are going to take it one day at a time and see what happens."

Alex shook her head, "You still haven't told me how you two ended up in bed. What did you cement the relationship this way? That's wack."

"No, it wasn't like that." Stephanie stood up and started pushing clothes in the duffle bag. "Ranger asked me how I liked using his name when I was hiding for two days. How I liked being Mrs. Manoso for two days." Stephanie zipped up the duffle after all the clothes were stuffed into it. She picked it up and Alex picked up the other one. They started walking out of the apartment. "He said he felt cheated he didn't get to consummate the assumed marriage and asked me if I felt cheated as well from a doomsday orgasm. I had felt a thrill at using his last name, I don't even know why I did use it. So he said he'd show me what it was like to be Mrs. Manoso. That was how we ended up in the sheets."

Scarface was sitting in the lot as he watched Alex and the woman from the other day come out of the apartment. He had gotten the message from Shiropolli through his lawyer to silence Ramono. Shiropolli had others working on the inside of the FBI to get the evidence removed from lock up. Scarface had sat for a day watching the apartment to see when Ramono would come back to get her things, to see if she saw his message. He rolled down the window and pointed the gun at Ramono. He relished this kill, but he wanted to see her eyes as he was doing it. His blood was pumping, his groin tightened, in a few minutes he would have her drugged. He waited for her to turn around back towards him to move to the passenger side of the car. He took the shot.

Stephanie had the door open to the driver side when she heard the shot. Looking over to Alex she saw her grab her right shoulder and pull the dart from it.

"Fuck!" Alex went down.

Stephanie ran around the front of the car as someone yelled out of one of the windows.

"What the fuck is going on? I don't like this shit anymore, I'm tired of hearing damn guns go off all the fucking time." The voice from the window said.

The van pulled up and one man jumped out, Stephanie looked up at him, she recognized him as the same guy who had walked away when her and Lula had come to Alex's apartment. He had a scar running the length of his cheek and he was training a gun on her. Shots rang out from the upper floor window. Stephanie dove over Alex as the shots grazed by her and zinging into the concrete.

"Get away from my car damn it." The voice from the window said as another round of shots came again.

Scarface dove back for the van and took off. He was so angry, his prey was down, and drugged and he couldn't get her. He would have to find a way to get to her, find a way to silence her.

Stephanie's heart was racing, the blood pounding in her ears. She rolled off of Alex and lay on her back looking up at the dusky sky. The first star of the night appearing. Pulling herself together she stood up and went to the passenger door and opened it up and then hoisted Alex inside. She heard pounding of footsteps behind her and turned to see the crazy man from the second story apartment.

"Damn fucker almost got my car." He said. "Did you see him?"

"Nope!" Stephanie said and shut the door to the Porsche. "I didn't see anything at all."

"Nobody sees anything around here. That's what is fucking wrong with the world, nobody sees anything, nobody says anything. Wonder we're not all dead yet. Gotta take matters into our own hands."

"Right." Stephanie said as she rounded to the driver's side, "You do that."

The phone in the car was ringing when Stephanie slammed the door shut. She answered it, "What?" She screamed in the phone as she started the car. She looked over to Alex. "Damn it, you better not be dead."

"Babe, what happened? Why are you at Alex's apartment? I told you to stay away from there." Ranger said.

"Alex got shot with a dart. We were getting her clothes and had them loaded in the Porsche and started to leave and she got shot. He pulled up beside us and was going to shoot me when the guy from the second story started shooting."

Stephanie started the car and pulled out.

"Reach over and check to see if she's breathing, Babe." Ranger told her.

Stephanie moved her hand over in front of Alex's face, she could feel the hot breath coming out. "She's alive."

"Get back to my apartment and don't leave."

Stephanie heard the phone go dead. "Great!" She looked over to Alex. "What did he give you?"

When Stephanie got to the garage and pulled inside three men were waiting. She barely stopped the car when the doors were opened up. Zero wrenched open her door, "Come on Stephanie."

Stephanie shut off the car. "I can't believe she got shot with a dart. We only went to get her clothes."

Zero took the receiver off of Stephanie's arm. "We'll take care of her. Don't worry about it." He tossed the receiver to Manuel who put it on his wrist.

Stephanie looked over to Manuel and then to the third guy. He didn't look like any of Ranger's men. He was not well muscled, didn't have short cropped hair, didn't look like he was in the military. His hair had flecks of gray sprinkled all through his dark auburn hair. He had on a tux and was putting a stethoscope to Alex's chest.

"Who is that?" Stephanie asked Zero.

"That is Doc Hyde. We all call him Jekyl though. He was on his way to one of the hospital functions when Ranger called him." Zero said as he started walking Stephanie to the elevator. "He'll take good care of Alex, don't worry about her. Let's get you upstairs."

"I heard that Zero, see how I massage your prostrate the next time you come in." Zero groaned from the threat. Doc Hyde stood up and looked over to Stephanie. "Her vitals are fine, so whatever he shot her with isn't going to kill her." He looked at Manuel, "Call me when she wakes up, I don't want to give her anything that may counteract what he gave her. Could be an ordinary sleeping medication, but without the dart so I can tell it's not much to go on. If she would have still had the dart with her, I could figure out what he used."

"We can send someone over there to look for it." Manuel said.

"Do that. Until then, I don't want to compromise her position. She's sleeping right now and I don't think her vitals will change much."

"We'll call you as soon as we have the dart." Manuel said and shook his hand.

Stephanie and Zero entered the elevator and took it all the way up to Ranger's apartment. Zero's phone rang and he answered it.

"You got my girl?" Ranger asked him.

"Yup, she's okay. A little shaken up." Zero told him.

"Stay with her, I'll be back as soon as Lester gets through being a ferret and we go in and nab this guy." Ranger hung up.

Zero closed his cell phone and snapped it back on the clip to his belt. Stephanie was now pacing the apartment. "I need my Chunky Monkey."

"Where is it?" Zero asked.

"In the car, it is probably melted by now." Stephanie told him.

"We'll get you some new Chunky Monkey." Zero got back on the phone and put in an order.

Manuel scooped Alex out of the car after he had seen Doc Hyde leave. He already called to have someone go hunt for the dart. He looked down at the sleeping face. "Damn kid, things aren't going your way at all. Damn lucky he didn't get you though, damn lucky he didn't get Stephanie. She's lucky that way. Has a knack of getting out of tight spots. So maybe it was a good thing she was with you this time."

It was two hours later when Ranger walked into his apartment with Lester. Stephanie was sitting in the living room eating from a gallon container of Chunky Monkey and Zero had another gallon in his lap. She looked up at Ranger, "I know I shouldn't have went there. I need to hear that again."

Zero got up taking his ice-cream with him. "She's calmed down now. Ice cream helps." He gave Ranger a grin and left.

"I told Alex to behave, I didn't think you two would leave and go to her apartment. How did this come about?" Ranger asked as he sat down in the spot that Zero had vacated.

Lester sat down in the chair. Ranger had told him he could come up to hear the story from Stephanie first hand and then he was leaving to go back to Alex who was still asleep. The dart had been found and shown to Doc Hyde and he said it was a heavy sedative and that Alex would be out for at least another twelve hours, it wouldn't hurt her. They had agreed to let her sleep it off.

Stephanie started explaining the talk that her and Alex had all the way up until Alex had let slip about what she had seen and done while being captive. "Ranger she told me something that she doesn't want anyone to know."

"How bad is it Babe?" Ranger asked as he put his hand on the back of the couch and started rubbing Stephanie's neck with the back of his fingers.

"Bad, very bad." Stephanie looked at Ranger, "She doesn't want me to tell, she feels responsible for it. She blames herself for it."

"Babe, I need more information. Tell me, and we'll deal with it from there." Ranger told her.

Stephanie took a deep breath, "One of the men she fought in the pit she knew personally. She had a choice to make. She made the right choice, she didn't want to hurt him. They were going to use her sexually as well as fighting if she didn't. She did it and the bastard took her with him when he killed the man. He's the same one who killed her mother, the same one who shot her with the dart tonight and almost shot me. She blames herself for his death, she told me she made the wrong choice."

Ranger put his hand on the back of Stephanie's neck and pulled her to him, laying her head on his chest. Ranger watched as Lester stood up and started stalking about the room, quiet and brooding.

"Whose the man? What does he look like Babe?" Ranger asked.

"She calls him Scarface, he has a scar running all the way across his right cheek back up into his ear. He has dark gray eyes and big forehead, he's bald, no hair. He has very light skin, almost transparent. When he looked at me, it was almost like I was seeing Benito again, it was his eyes." Stephanie told him.

Ranger looked to Lester who stopped pacing. "Shiropolli's henchman, his enforcer, Blade. But Blade is ex-CIA, ex-Navy Seal, unless he's working on the inside with the feds."

Lester looked at Stephanie, "What do you want me to do?"

"He's not going to be easy to get to. I doubt he'll try the apartment again." Ranger said.

"How much information do we have on Blade?" Lester asked.

"His records are classified. I only know him by Blade." Ranger told Lester.

"He moves in silent circles."

Ranger gave a nod. "I've never known him to stick around very long with one employer, I don't know if he'll stick around long with Shiropolli locked up at the moment."

"Damn, can't we make any phone calls?"

"And what? Tell them they have a renegade agent on their fucking hands." Ranger gave a sigh, "He won't be easy to stop. He has a target and we'll have to make sure his target doesn't get within his reach."


	25. Chapter 25

Joe stood in the bathroom in front of the sink sleepily rubbing his day old growth of beard early Monday morning. He had gotten out of the shower and now contemplated on shaving it off his face or leaving it until he had to be back at work when he heard the doorbell. He could hear Bob as he barked away downstairs at the intruding nose. Joe looked down at the towel which was wrapped around his slim waist and decided this was as good as it was going to get. Anyone who came this early in the morning would have to forgive his transgression of not being dressed. He opened the bathroom door as the bell rang again. Bob howled at the door.

"I'm coming!" Joe yelled as he descended the stairs. "Bob! Shut up!"

The doorbell rang for the third time as Joe grabbed Bob's collar and yelled, "Hold your damn horses!" Bob yelped as Joe pulled him back from the door. Joe looked through the peephole and saw an unfamiliar blonde haired woman. "Who the hell is this?"

Bob whined as Joe cracked the door and stuck his nose out the crack. Joe pulled him back trying to hang onto Bob and the towel at the same time. "I think you have the wrong house lady."

"Are you Joseph Anthony Morelli?" The woman asked.

"Who are you?" Joe asked as he scanned her from top to bottom. She was dressed in business attire with a skirt that came to her knees. Bob pushed his way in between Joe's legs and the door which came open a few more inches. Bob whined to get to the woman. He could see the business manila envelope in her hand.

"I'm with a delivery service and I need to make sure this envelope is given to Joseph Anthony Morelli. Are you Joseph Anthony Morelli?" She asked.

Bob ducked his head back inside and then pushed the door open further and lunged, Joe yanked the collar on Bob his grip on the towel loosened. The woman looked warily at Bob. "Yes, that's me. Can you come back in ten minutes? As you can see I have my hands full."

"Release the dog and I'll hand you the envelope." The woman said.

"If you say so." Joe released Bob and the towel snagged on Bob's collar and Joe felt as the towel slipped. He grabbed the envelope as her eyes grew wide, Joe's flesh was revealed as he grabbed the envelope and covered his manhood as Bob snuffled the woman in her crotch area.

"Good Lord!" The woman exclaimed. "You've just been served. Get this dog off of me." She tried to push Bob away and Bob reared up and knocked her flat on her bottom. 

Joe slammed the door. "Hell no, Bob can have fun." Joe looked at the envelope in his hands. "Serves you right for serving me papers."

He could hear the screams along with Bob baying away. Joe took the steps two at a time upstairs and went to the bedroom tossing the envelope on the bed. Going to his dresser he pulled out briefs and pulled them on, he pulled out some shorts and pulled them on. He went to the bed and picked up the envelope and started back downstairs with it. Bob was scratching at the front door to be let in and Joe opened it. Bob came trotting in with part of a business skirt hanging out of the corner of his mouth. He looked back up at Joe as Joe shut the front door, Bob had a goofy look on his face like he did something worth being proud of.

"Felt the need to have skirt huh?" Joe asked.

Bob found a patch of sun in the living room and circled, then flopped down. Joe shook his head and went to the kitchen. He laid the envelope on the counter and poured a cup of coffee. He leaned up against the counter and picked up the envelope and looked at his name printed on the outside with nothing else to indicate what it would be about. Joe sat his coffee down and opened the legal business size envelope and pulled out the papers. He tossed the envelope on the counter and picked up his coffee and took a drink while he started reading. Coffee spewed out of his mouth as he choked and gagged, he had read the name on the lawsuit Caitlyn Alexandria Ramono, and it was notifying him he had seventy-two hours notice that his parental rights would be terminated if he failed to show in court. He spun around towards the sink and dumped the cup inside it and grabbed the dish towel, he wiped the coffee off the papers.

How on earth? There is no way, no fucking way at all. Joe thought as he flipped paper after paper on the petition and found the one document that stilled his hand. The last piece of paper was the birth certificate. He read her name, her date of birth, and his name as father. Joe calculated her age against his, he would have been seventeen when she was born. Victoria Lacy Ramono, mother, I never slept with her. 

Joe had that nagging feeling in the back of his head, the phone rang and Joe reached for it. "Hello." He answered still in shock at what he was seeing.

"Got the results on that DNA."

"Give it to me." Joe said. His heart pounded in his chest.

"Ninety-nine point nine percent certain that they don't match." 

"Shit!" Joe stated.

"What, you didn't think they would when I talked with you. Why is that such a bad thing now?" The caller asked.

"I can't talk." Joe hung up the phone. He reached up to the cabinet and grabbed his uncle's homebrew down and took a healthy swig. Document is falsified, it has to be. What is the possibilities of her being mine? Joe thought. He took another swig. Christ! I'd be a father. A father of a teenager.

What goes around comes around. Joe could hear the voice of his mother resounding in his head.

"Shit! I was wild as a teen. Christ! I just won't answer it. Leave it alone." He said and looked back at the documents. He glared at them again, "Fuck! I need her DNA the legal way." Joe grinned. "I would give up some blood, I don't think she's mine, it'll come back negative that she is mine, but I would have her DNA, legally."

Joe laughed at the documents and sat down the bottle. I need to find out how my name was put on this. How is this possible? Is there anymore with my name like this on them? Christ don't go there. Joe thought.

He picked up the documents and headed upstairs to his home office. He sat them down on his desk and booted up his computer. Turning to the rolodex on his desk he flipped through till he found his lawyers name and dialed the number. If they were lucky, he would be able to get something done today about getting her blood so DNA could be pulled. 

What if she is mine? Joe thought. He ran his hands through his hair as his lawyer picked up the phone. "I was just served papers for paternity and I need to know legally if I'm on the birth certificate can I pick up her today?"

"It depends on a number of things." His lawyer said sleepily into the phone.

"Her mother is dead, I'm the only other parent listed." Joe sat back in the chair leaning back scanning the room. His eyes fell on his high school annuals. 

"You better bring over the petition and let me read it. I'm due in court on another matter this morning. I could turn this over to my partner and let them advise you."

"I'll be there in the hour, I need things to happen today." Joe said and hung up the phone.

Joe went straight to the bookcase and pulled out his high school annuals. He took them back to his desk and opened them up. In his senior year annual he flipped through the pages looking for Victoria Lacey Ramono, he didn't see her in it at all. Joe couldn't remember if she was in school that year or not. Opening up his junior year annual he searched through it and found her listed, she looked younger with thick glasses. "Didn't sleep with you. Why would you put my name on a child's birth certificate that isn't yours either? What was so special about Alex that you had to have her?" Opening the bottom drawer Joe pulled out a clean pad and started making notes. "I'm going to find out what you did if it is the last thing I do."

At the top of the pad, he wrote out Alex's full name along with the date her birth. He wrote Lacy's name next, then his own adding a question mark beside his own, then possibilities that would match to his name: Forged? Identity Theft? Hospital Records? Revenge? Obsession?

He pushed the pad away. "Who are you little girl?"

Joe checked his watched and scooped up his annuals, the petition, and the pad. He changed and left, he had thirty minutes to meet with the lawyer and find out his options. The clock was ticking, he had seventy-two hours to find out who Alex really was and to make sure she ended up with the right person.

Alex was sitting at the kitchen island in Jose Manoso's house in Connecticut. Her head lay on her left arm as she twirled the fork with the right hand over the small fresco tiles that lined the island. Jose opened the refrigerator, "Juice?"

"No." Alex answered.

Jose closed the refrigerator, "Coffee perhaps?"

"No." Alex droned out.

He shook his head and went around the island and stood behind her, he moved her hair that was covering her face. Jose looked at the bags under her eyes. "You didn't sleep last night did you?"

Alex moved her eyes to look at him and moved them back to the fork that was in her hand and kept twirling over the tiles. "No." Alex said. 

"You are going to be a joy at court today." Jose moved away from her.

"Bite me."

Jose gave a bark of laughter, "I'm not into cannibalism thank you."

"No, just raping the minds of people."

A snicker came from the doorway of the kitchen. "On your case again is she?" Lester asked.

"Yes, she's a real joy when she gets no sleep." Jose poured himself a coffee, he looked back at Alex. When Carlos asked me to take her in for a few days along with Lester I thought this was going to be easy. Damn kid is a hard nut to crack, talked me out of more than she's given up to me so far. At least she didn't come into the kitchen about to kill me like she did when she woke up from that drug. Took Lester and I an hour to get her to realize that Scarface wasn't around. Scarface was interesting, Lester told me later his real name, or least the code name he uses. A renegade agent, I knew this kid was on New York's best seller's list the moment Carlos told me about her. Then everything Lester has told me since, this kid is living in a real mystery novel in real life. Jose thought.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" Lester asked as he moved over towards the coffee pot. "You slept at headquarters fine."

Alex lifted her head and looked at him, "Who said I slept at headquarters?"

Lester looked at Jose as he poured himself a cup of coffee. 

"Answer the question Alex." Jose said.

Lester turned and leaned up against the counter, "You answer the question, and I'll make sure you don't have to wear that dress that your lawyer wants you to wear today."

"Won't work, she'll have a dress for me to change into when I get there if I don't show up in one. Been there done that." Alex said.

Lester laughed, Jose and Lester had taken Alex shopping for a dress yesterday, and she didn't own one. Lester and Jose had a time getting her to try any on. They had finally talked her into a summer dress with matching sandals. Lester had gotten a shock when he had seen the tattoos on her arms. She had two on her biceps that wrapped all the way around. Her left arm had a dragon, her right a white tiger, both had vines interweaving all the way around with the words Guardians of Paradise under both of the animals. 

Jose pushed off from the counter, "Pancakes?" Jose asked Lester.

"Yes." Lester moved over and took a seat on the stool next to Alex. "Give grumpy some too."

Jose opened cabinets and pulled down what he needed to start making breakfast. "Hey grumpy, you won't tell us why you won't sleep. Then let's talk about what we were talking about last night. You said James brought the demo team to your elementary school on health day. Tell me about why they impressed you so much."

Alex laid the fork down and turned her head on her arm to her other arm and looked at Lester. "I'm not grumpy, I'm tired."

"Sure you are grouchy." Lester said taking a sip of coffee. "Answer Jose."

"No, he still hasn't told me how he got the scar on his right big toe." Alex said.

Jose groaned, "Fine. Brat!" Jose started mixing the batter. "I was ten, Richard Ortega had a new bike, all of us were dying to ride it. He wouldn't let anyone, but he was giving rides. When it came to my turn. I got on back, I didn't have any shoes on. My mother was always on me about putting on my shoes. I hated wearing shoes. Anyway, Richard was giving me a ride, he hit a pot hole in the road, when he did, my right foot went up inside the crank which the chain sits on and where you peddle. We came to a stop and both of us went falling off. My toe was caught between the spokes and blood was squirting everywhere. He tried to move the peddles backwards but it wouldn't budge, he had peddle brakes, so my toe was caught real good. Richard's father came out of the house when he heard the screaming of the girls and he took the back wheel off after someone had already tried cutting the chain which only made things worse. When Richard's father took the wheel off my toe was released. I had ten stitches in my toe. I wear my shoes to this day anytime I go outside. Your turn."

"I never knew that." Lester said.

"Because you never asked." Alex said. Alex picked up her head and looked at Jose as he started pouring the pancakes onto a flat grill he had warming next to the stove. "I liked the gis they had on. It had their names embossed on the back in silver thread, and the dragon was wicked as hell." 

Jose turned to look at her. "Why did you like the dragon so much?"

"I don't know."

"Nope, not an answer. That's a child's answer, you have a reason. I gave you more with my toe story, spill it." Jose turned back to the pancakes and flipped them.

"It was cool with the way purple and the green scales melded together. And the silver running the edges of the scales making it shimmer. It was like it was breathing, like it looked real, like it could fly right off of the gi. It was magical, it wanted to fly, fly back to its layer to protect its treasure." Alex lay her head back on her arms.

Jose took out plates and separated the cooked pancakes. He placed a plate in front of Lester, then one in front of an empty spot, next to Alex and he looked at her. "Sit up." He commanded her, when she did he put her plate in front of her. "And you got your gi, you have that gi don't you?"

"Yes." Alex replied as she poured syrup on her pancakes. 

"But it didn't help did it." Jose said thoughtfully.

"No."

"That's not the dragon you're looking for Alex." Jose said.

Lester looked over Alex's head at Jose. What the hell is he talking about? What dragon? Lester thought.

"I'm not looking for anything but my freedom." Alex said as she started eating the pancakes.

"Nope. You had it right with the dragon, a real father to you has always been something that was unattainable, elusive. You're the treasure Alex. You even boast it on your arms. Trying to bring that elusive dragon to protect your paradise." Jose took a drink of his coffee. He'd let her chew on that awhile. 


	26. Chapter 26

Ranger's fingers played softly up and down Stephanie's back as she laid on top of him. He hadn't wanted to get up yet. The cell phone had rung four times already, one of the calls had been from Joe which he hadn't answered. Stephanie's new cell phone laid by Ranger's on the nightstand by the bed. Her cell phone rung, Ranger reached over and picked it up looking at the readout. It was from Mary Lou, Ranger nudged Stephanie. 

"Babe," Ranger said as he bent his head down and kissed the top of her head. Stephanie mumbled into his chest and Ranger grinned, "Mary Lou is calling on your phone."

Stephanie moved her head up and looked at Ranger, he saw her eyes and how dark blue they looked at the moment. The sleepy mussed up look of her curly hair, and the kissable pout on her lips. Ranger tossed the ringing phone to the floor, "You can call her back."

"What?" Stephanie said in a sleep induced haze.

Ranger's grin broadened. "Exactly." He cupped her face and kissed her, he pulled back enough so his forehead was touching hers. "Let me show you how Mrs. Manoso gets woken up in the mornings."

He saw Stephanie lick her lips. "Is it morning?"

"Yeah, Babe. It is." Ranger captured her lips once again ignoring the cell phone that was ringing on the floor. He rolled them over as the cell phone quit. Ranger nibbled on Stephanie's neck as a new on slot of ringing started again, from his cell as well as Stephanie's cell. Stephanie arched up into Ranger's chest and her hand went out to Ranger's phone. Ranger looked up and saw her pick up his cell phone, he took it from her and saw the readout, Morelli again, Ranger tossed his phone on the floor along with hers. "Let them ring."

"What if it's something important?" Stephanie asked half awake now.

"You are important at the moment." Ranger slid under the covers and he could hear Stephanie's moan as he made his way down her body kissing and grazing his fingers down her sides. He felt the arch of her spine as he reached her center and the wicked grin on his face made the beast inside him roar with delight.

Stephanie stepped out of the bathroom forty minutes later. Ranger was sitting on the edge of the bed with his cell phone pressed to his ear. She smiled at him, waking up like Mrs. Manoso was a dream, a real good wet dream, that she found she could get used too.

"Yes, the meeting is still set for this afternoon." Ranger said and looked over to Stephanie who walked towards him. "No, let Alex know Stephanie isn't going to bring her into any of it."

Stephanie sat down on the bed in the towel and reached down to the floor and picked up her cell phone. She ran through the missed calls and saw she had seventeen of them, four had been Mary Lou, five of them from her mother, and the rest were from people she knew who kept up on the burg gossip. Stephanie dialed Mary Lou. Ranger had picked up a new cell phone for her yesterday and had it in service in a matter of an hour, and given out the new number the next hour to everyone that had mattered.

"About time you called me back," Stephanie heard Mary Lou on the other end.

"What's the burg emergency?" Stephanie asked. She saw Ranger hang up the phone and then felt him move in behind her and wrap his arms around her. She leaned back onto his shoulder as he kissed her neck.

"This is big news, real big news. Joe Morelli has a kid." Mary Lou said.

"WHAT?" Stephanie sat up straight and felt Ranger pull her back to his chest again.

"Calm down Babe." Ranger said silkily.

"I know! I know! I couldn't believe it when Christy called me. She said Evelyn called, Evelyn is the assistant to Beth Peterson, and Joe just left the office when Evelyn called Christy. Evelyn saw the birth certificate and the paternity lawsuit filed against him. Joe is a father. I can't believe this." Mary Lou rambled out quickly.

"Joe's name was actually on the birth certificate?" Stephanie asked. "Whose the kid?"

Ranger kept kissing Stephanie's nape on the back of her neck. He had wondered how long this would take before everyone in the burg knew. He figured it out when Mary Lou called to tell Stephanie what was going on, so he decided to make sure Stephanie had lost all of her tension before she made any calls.

"I don't know, Christy didn't say. Oh, that's the other line. I'll talk to you later." Mary Lou hung up.

Stephanie shut the cell phone off. "Oh my God. Joe can't be a father. This doesn't make sense."

"Whose the kid?" Ranger asked, knowing full well who the kid was.

"Mary Lou doesn't know." Stephanie said as her phone rang again, she answered it.

"Stephanie, why didn't you tell us your boyfriend had a daughter." Mrs. Plum started confronting her daughter.

"Mom, I told you, Joe and I broke up. I didn't know, I just found out from Mary Lou. So the kid is a girl?" Stephanie asked.

"Yes, Laura called Sarah who called Darla who called Evelyn's mother. Evelyn's mother heard it straight from her daughter that Joseph has a fifteen year old daughter. Caitlyn something or other. I thought Joseph was different, he didn't seem like the normal Morelli men. He didn't have any of the wild streaks that the Morelli men had. In his younger day yes, but I thought he would at least recognize his own daughter, even his cousin who had a child when he was a teenager at least recognized his son."

Stephanie could feel Ranger rubbing his hands up and down her side now and circling them towards the front to her own stomach. His lips stayed about the nape of her neck as he kept placing soft kisses there. Stephanie would have already been up and pacing if it hadn't been for Ranger keeping her jealous demons at bay. Jealous over the fact, that someone had more claim to Morelli than she did. She was with Ranger, but she still loved Joe, and it hurt to find out that he had a kid this way.

"He was wild when he was younger, but Joe would recognize his child, if he knew about it. At least I think he would. Mom, the girl is fifteen and was Caitlyn her first name or middle name?" Stephanie could hear Grandma Mazur in the back ground, after her mother asked her.

"First name and Ramono the last. Didn't catch the middle name, sounded like some king's name or something. Wouldn't it be a pip to eat with someone like this."

Stephanie could almost see her mother doing the sign of the cross over the phone. "Ramono? Is Grandma Mazur sure?"

"Yes she is." Her mother said.

Ranger took the skin at the nape of Stephanie's neck into his mouth and nibbled with his teeth as his arms came around her possessively. "Hang up, Babe."

Stephanie said into the phone, "I have to go." She hung up the phone. "Why did I just hang up on my mother? And stop that, I can't think."

Ranger pulled his mouth back chuckling, "Babe. You let Morelli worry about Ramono, she isn't your concern anymore right now. You've done your job, and you'll see the feds this afternoon along with Lula, Tank, and myself. We'll get you two out of this mess. This is one case you need to let Morelli handle on his own."

"But his daughter? His daughter is my skip?" Stephanie turned back to look at Ranger, her deep blue eyes showing full of curious wonder. "Why does stuff like this always happen to me? How do I always end up in the middle of the cases he is working on?"

"Don't know, Babe. You live a charmed life." Ranger smiled and kissed her and then kissed her nose. "He's slept with plenty of women."

"Joe never said he had a kid though. Joe would have told me if he had a child." Stephanie told him.

"Maybe he didn't know, maybe she didn't know." Ranger told her.

"How could she not know? This is her birth certificate for Christ sake."

Ranger took her head in his hands. "Babe, she didn't know. If Alex would have known she had a father other than what she had been told, don't you think she would have gone looking for him. This is Alex, you got to see what that kid is made of first hand. She's a smart kid, too smart at times."

"How do you know she didn't know? How long have you known?" Stephanie asked.

"A couple of days, when Lester and I went to find you and Lula. Alex received a call from her lawyer, trust me Babe. She didn't know. It was a blow to her to find this out. I didn't tell you because I wanted Morelli to find out first. Alex hasn't wanted to talk about it, she didn't tell, so I didn't say anything."

"You could have told me." Stephanie moved and got out of his embrace.

"If I told you, what would you have done? Talk to Alex about him," Ranger watched as she walked over to his closet and started pulling out clothes. "Babe, you had just broken up with Morelli, when you break up with someone you are at war with them. Alex didn't need to hear anything bad about Morelli at that moment." Ranger stood up and walked over to the closet as Stephanie pulled on a pair of cargo pants that were hers. "Alex hates her mother, she doesn't trust men easily. If you think I did something wrong by not telling you then tell me. I was looking out for Alex, she doesn't trust anyone."

Stephanie looked at him as she pulled the shirt over her head. "She told me about that murder."

"But she told you not to tell, didn't she?" Ranger asked her. He knew the answer, he could see it in her eyes. "You aren't telling anyone else about that. I'm not going to let Blade have a reason to go after you. It's bad enough he's after Alex. It's bad enough I can't put her in any safe house where she can't talk and just hide her away. I sent her to my brother, with a reason. Jose will be able to help her, get her to work through things before Morelli comes to claim her."

"You're that sure she's his and Lacy Ramono's? Lacy never slept with him Ranger, Lacy was in my year in school. Lacy was seeing Michael and left school when she started showing. Mary Lou and I caught Lacy with Michael several times. Alex isn't Joe's kid." Stephanie said. "And I wouldn't have said anything bad about Joe to her. She needs to talk to the police, not your brother."

Ranger went over to her in the closet, Stephanie put her hands on his chest which was still bare. "I need to introduce you to Jose," He wrapped his hands around her waist and felt the tension she had in her body and the irritation she had towards him start to leave a little. "I think you'll like him." He captured her lips and pulled back, "He wants to meet you, has for awhile now. Then after you meet him and if you disagree with me sending Alex to him instead of the police, then I'll let you be as pissy with me as you want. Fair warning, my brother is a criminal psychologist. Who'll do everything in his power to help Alex work through that murder she saw and that she feels guilty over."

"When do I get to meet Jose?" Stephanie asked.

"After your meeting with the feds." Ranger told her and smiled at her.

"Don't be so smug, you had a good reason. But that doesn't excuse you to think you'd know how I would talk to Alex about Joe." Stephanie pushed off from his chest. "I have to go check in at the office and pick up skips before Connie comes unglued."

Ranger watched as she walked out of his closet, he reached for a shirt and pulled it on. _Went better than what I thought it would. At least she didn't throw anything at me. Sex before talking to Stephanie is a good thing. No war._ Ranger thought.

Blade sat in the corner of the room stretched back and relaxed. He had been on the phone for the better part of an hour. The fax machine kept printing page after page of information on one Ricardo Carlos Manoso. He had traced the license plate to a fake name, traced the fake name back to a front company. From the front company he had made a call and put a wizard into decoding the company. The fax had started pouring in once he had the name and with his connections he now knew who had his target. He was reading over his military career at the moment. He didn't mind playing with someone who would be considered an equal in the game. For Alex to find someone who could actually hide her made him want this target more now than ever.

The phone rang and he answered it.

"Has the girl been terminated yet?" He heard Shiropolli's lawyer ask.

"I said leave the girl to me. You worry about your other man." He blew out a billow of smoke he had drawn into his lungs from the cigarette in his mouth.

"With your clearance why can't you take care of the tape?"

"I told you before, it's my way or no way." He sat the cigarette in the ashtray. "Are you rendering my services obsolete now?"

"Not at all, the feds said the girl talked though and has rolled over on him. They said they have testimony that can put Shiropolli behind bars for good."

Blade laughed, "Is he so worried to be behind those bars? What, can he not stand to be gone from his precious dog that long?"

"That's not the point here, she has to be terminated."

"You question my judgment again and I'm gone. You can deal with this on your own." He picked back up the military papers again then sat them back down. "Are you sure the feds aren't lying to you?"

"Yes I'm sure."

"Then quit calling me." Blade hung up the phone. He picked up the picture of Alex that Shiropolli had given him the first time he was called in to pick up this kid. She had given Shiropolli's other men a run for their money to get her. He had been called in when she had bested three of them and got away. The kid was good, she had a way of watching her back, but when she felt out of her element she messed up things, small things, but it gave him an edge. He caressed her face that was on the picture and laid it back down. "Soon my lovely little quarry soon."

He rubbed the scar on his face, looking at the picture and he finished his cigarette. He grinned and thought back to the time he had snatched her, to the time she had woken up from the drug, the hallucinations it gave coming up out of it.

_Her eyes had grown wide as they opened up, his face was mere inches from hers. The scream that came throatily up out of her body. "What's wrong baby?" He asked smooth and silkily._

_He saw her fight and struggle against the bindings, "Relax," he had said stroking that smooth right cheek. "Everything will wear off in about an hour."_

_He had watched her fight the bindings, fight the things she saw coming out of the heavy sedative that was laced with another drug. Slowly she had come back to normal and he was there beside her as her eyes truly focused on him for the first time._


	27. Chapter 27

Joe walked into the station, he headed straight for his desk. Looking at his watch he noticed he had two hours before he had to meet the lawyer outside the court room. That gave him two hours to find what hospital Alex had been born at and start digging into her medical records. Joe sat down at his desk. Antoine pushed over some papers onto his desk.

"Found five new possible missing children." Antoine said.

"Forget that." Joe said. "Missing children is not in the category for who she is." Joe handed him the petition.

Joe noticed the blinking lights on his work phone. He had several calls already on his way to the station, all of them had been his mother. Joe hadn't wanted to talk to her. He saw Chief Pantangelo walk over to his desk. Antoine whistled as he read shaking his head.

The Chief bent down low over Joe's desk. "I had an interesting phone call from my wife."

Joe looked over at him. "Not mine. She can't be. Physically impossible with Lacy Ramono and she's on the birth certificate. Lacy Ramono has brown eyes, just like me."

Antoine handed the petition back to him. "What's on the agenda?"

"Call hospitals, we need to find where she was born." Joe told Antoine, he looked back at the Chief who had his hand out for the petition. Joe gave it to him to let him read it.

"How much have you worked up so far?" The Chief asked.

"Not much." Joe said as he pulled out the high school annuals and started flipping through them.

"Is there a possibility that she isn't Ramono's?" The Chief asked, digging for information.

"Conclusively." Joe said flipping the pages and he grabbed a pen and went back to the beginning and started circling the girls in the books that he had actually slept with.

The Chief laid the petition down on Joe's desk, "I didn't hear that, I assume you are going to rectify that little transgression."

"Legally," Joe said looking at him and grinning. "Someone has a grudge to settle with me and they are in one of these four books. I just have to figure out how Ramono actually fits in all of this and why my name is getting dragged down with it."

The Chief stood and looked over at Antoine, "That will be a long list to go through if he has to pull every name of all the girls he slept with." He looked back at Joe, "Let me know if you need anything." He turned to leave and looked back at Joe, "And in case she is yours, you'll be on mandatory maternity leave." He laughed at seeing the look of horror on Joe's face and walked away.

Antoine was laughing. Joe looked back at him, "Shut up! It isn't funny."

"Yes it is." Antoine said and dodged the pen that came flying at him. He dodged the paperclips as well. "Stop it, or I won't be able to call the hospitals Daddy."

"Daddy my ass." Joe picked up a few more paperclips and threw them at him. "Get to work." Joe found another pen in the top drawer and went back to circling pictures again. His cell buzzed on his hip, he looked at the readout, his mother. It stopped then the phone on his desk rang, he looked at the caller ID. His mother.

"Aren't you going to get that?" Antoine asked as he looked up all the hospitals in the greater Trenton area.

"No, I value my life right now. I need facts, not hunches. My mother will have me down the wedding isle if Alex proves to be mine. I have to solve this. I like my bachelorhood to much." Joe finished the first annual and moved to the next one.

Antoine was grinning, "You're afraid of your mother?"

"No. My grandmother scares the shit out of me though." Joe stated. "She'll give me the eye and then have visions, she'll start doing all sorts of things to me, and I won't be her favorite anymore."

Antoine barked with laughter, "The eye! The eye is nothing, not when I have a grandmother who uses voodoo to reach me. Trust me, the eye is far better than voodoo, at least she has to be in the same room with you."

"I don't want to know. Don't tell me anymore." Joe pointed to Antoine's phone, "Get calling."

Alex carried out the dress and the shoes to the SUV.

"Why can't you just put them on here?" Lester asked her.

"And feel like I'm naked all the way to Trenton. You are out of your mind." Alex told him as she opened the back door to the SUV.

Jose laughed, "You wouldn't be naked in a dress. It's feminine, it's pretty, you'll look cute in it."

Alex hung the dress on the notch in the back by the door and looked back at Jose. "I'm not cute."

Jose stopped laughing, "No you aren't cute. You're actually a very pretty young woman."

Alex groaned and climbed in the back of the SUV, Lester was in the front driver's seat. "Does he have to come with us?"

Jose opened the passenger side door and climbed in.

"Yes he does." Lester said and started the SUV.

Jose turned and looked at her, "Why do you feel naked in a dress?"

"Why do you have to come?" Alex retorted.

"Because you agreed to talk with me, and since you aren't so forth coming, I'd rather witness firsthand some of the things you'll be experiencing in your life." Jose said.

"Can't you just get Lester's point of view?" Alex asked.

Lester laughed, "No, I'd be biased."

"Exactly," Jose said, "you owe me, answer the question."

"Fine," Alex sat back and crossed her arms. "One, I don't feel protected in a dress. Two, I hate the way the wind can whip it up at any given moment. Three, I feel uncomfortable in them. Four, they make them look so cheesy. Five, I hate the way people look at me when I'm in one. Six, you freeze your ass off in the winter in them. Seven, I hate the way I look in them. Eight, you have two positions to sit in a dress or you expose yourself to the world."

Lester started backing out of the drive, "I see the winter point, and that is actually a good point."

"Stop helping Lester," Jose said.

Lester winked at Alex, and turned back around to drive the SUV after he made the three point turn. "And the wind is a good point. I've seen up many a skirt with the guys best friend of the wind blowing."

"I said stop Lester." Jose reached over and punched his arm.

"Ah, the abuse I'm taking for you Alex."

Alex chuckled. Lester looked in the review mirror, he could see that some of the tension had left her face now. He looked over at Jose who was shaking his head. "Quit encouraging her."

"What? I'm not doing anything." Lester said in innocence.

Jose groaned. He looked back at Alex, "You have a few good points. What bothers me is that you don't have any self esteem when you are wearing one though. How often have you worn a dress?"

Alex looked out the window. "When I was younger, quite a few times, and when Sharlene makes me for court."

Lester glanced in the review mirror and saw the far away look Alex had when she looked out of the window.

"What happened when you were younger in a dress that you didn't like?" Jose asked her.

"I got picked on a lot, okay." Alex turned and glared at Jose, "I'm tired of you bringing up shit. I'm tired of you making me relive every damn memory I have. You want information, you want to live in my world, I'd gladly let you. Let you feel what it is like to have the shit beat out of you because your old man was a sick twisted fuck. Let you feel what it is like to have someone whisper in your ear softly while they beat you. What the fuck do you get out of delving in someone's mind? Why don't you go live your own fucking life and get out of my head for right now."

Jose turned back around in his seat. "I'm sorry, I've pushed you quite enough. I'll stop, we'll have a break."

Alex moved over towards the window and stuck her forehead on it.

_Why did I do that? Because I don't want him going any further. I know I agreed to this, he showed me the profits he makes off the books he writes. I've read him, he writes well. I just never thought he'd use real people in his books. He pushed all day Sunday after I agreed to this, then this morning. The damn dragon, he can't be fucking right about that. But is he? Is that why I sought out James so much after Michael was killed? I need to get away from Jose for awhile, far away. He told me I could have an advance up front, well I'll make him pay for it. He can send me to that school in China for a month, the one I was trying to get James to send me too. The Shoalin Temple, where they teach Judo. _Alex thought.

Alex looked over at Jose who was now writing in a tablet he brought, "You don't ask anymore questions till after court. I'll answer then. I know what I want up front."

Jose turned his head and looked at her, "What?"

"The Shoalin Temple in northern China has a school that teaches Judo, I want one month, this summer. You make that happen and I'll answer any question you want, free reign, but I get China first." Alex told him.

Lester grinned as he looked over at Jose, "You going to make that bargain?"

Jose turned back and started writing again. "I'll do it. One condition, you can't go alone, and we have to find out what happens with the courts first."

"I get to pick who goes with me then." Alex told him. "You can't pick."

"Agreed." Jose said writing away.

Lester shook his head. _He's insane, Jose is a nut, send her to China. Blade is out there, how crazy is Jose. _Lester thought. He looked back at Alex who seemed really satisfied with this. He could tell this was something she really wanted.

Joe looked at his watch, Antoine had already called almost all of the hospitals with no luck so far. Joe had gone through all the annuals and then started looking back through them again, this time he was paying closer attention to the group shots and looking for Lacy in them and who she was standing around when the pictures were taken. He made notes on his pad, he had seen several of them with a few people who kept cropping back up. He closed his eyes and leaned back, one of the people in the pictures he knew he slept with. Sarah. He had even found a note from Sarah in his annual, it had been in his locker the day they got the annuals, and he had stuck it in there.

_Joe,_

_I had a great time at home coming. I still can't believe you asked me to go. I thought you were seeing Teri. That is what was going around the school. I heard so many things about you, I was afraid to go at first, but I'm glad I did. To answer your question. Yes. Mrs. Nutt is coming, see you later._

_Sarah_

Joe turned the note over and over in his hand. Opening his eyes he flipped the pages till he found Sarah's name, no picture. Unavailable. Was the word in place of the picture. He flipped several more pages to the back of the annual, he saw the advertisements the school year book committee sold. The owner's of Crystals Pizza House had bought one page, instead of the normal advertisement, a picture of Sarah covered the whole page. Below her picture was the words, we miss you, come home Sarah.

"Found anything yet?" Antoine asked.

"The reason why I became a police officer." Joe looked at Antoine, "you ever had someone in your life that when you talked with them, things just seemed to become clearer?"

"Yes." Antoine said.

Joe turned the annual around and let Antoine see the picture of Sarah. "She went missing my senior year. About two months after home coming. She wasn't found for three years, when they found her they declared her death as a suicide. Sarah would never take her own life, they said her body was with a note, explaining everything. I never bought it. Every time I see a murder victim and if they are female, I think of Sarah. I think of the time I spent looking for her when she showed up missing." Joe sat the note down and rubbed his face and shook his head. "Just a bit of a shock, I haven't looked at these in years."

Antoine watched Joe. "So who was she to you?"

"Old girlfriend. The one I never got to break up with because she left me first." Joe turned the annual back around.

"Want me to add her to the list? I don't see her name on it." Antoine said.

"No reason too. She's dead." Joe looked at his watch, he had thirty minutes now to get to the court house. He stood up. "Has St. Francis Medical Center called back?"

"No, they had to send someone off site. They moved their records to a building off site from the hospital." Antoine told him as he picked up the phone and looked at another number.

"I'll see you after court." Joe reached down and picked up Sarah's note and stuck it in his front pocket, he left the station. He had DNA to get from a teenage girl.


	28. Chapter 28

Joe leaned on the courthouse wall with one foot up on the wall, he had a file underneath one arm and his hands were in his pockets. It was close to eleven o'clock, and according to his lawyer, they had found out that Alex was due in court at eleven-thirty this morning. He knew Antoine was waiting a call back from St. Francis Medical Center. Records that long ago were contained in a cold storage facility off site and the records person went to go pull the file at the records facility. Antoine had called him and told him they were now looking for the records, they had found which hospital she was born in.

The black SUV pulled into the parking place, Joe watched as Lester stepped from the vehicle along with Alex. A third person was with them that looked a little like Ranger but not quite. He saw that she was carrying a summer dress with sandals, her hair pulled back into a ponytail which he had noted when she turned back to the SUV hung long and straight just past the curve of her bottom. Joe watched as they walked up the steps, once they reached the top Alex had looked up and spotted him, he saw her step falter for a brief moment then her pace quickened in haste as she passed him along the walk. He pushed off from the wall, his lawyer was already inside as well as hers. For the last thirty minutes both of them had been bickering back and forth over the issue of emancipation. It was no longer a matter of emancipation, as much as it was now an issue of divorce she would be seeking next if he turned out to be her biological father. Keeping his pace he slid in smoothly beside Alex when she stopped. All of them stood waiting for the elevator.

Lester looked over Alex's head towards Joe. "Hello, Morelli."

"Hello, Santos. You don't seem surprised at seeing me."

"Why should I be?" He looked down at Alex who kept her head forward not looking at either of them.

Joe looked at Alex and back up to Lester. "How long have you known?"

"A few days." Lester told him.

"Ranger felt the need to not speak about this to me? After the information I had already given him. He doesn't return phone calls either." Joe asked as the elevator opened up. Alex went in straight to the back of the elevator and turned. Joe saw her glance at him briefly, "Hello Alex." He saw her look away from him not speaking.

"I can't speak for Ranger about what he decides to tell and what he doesn't." Lester said. Lester watched the interplay in between Alex and Joe. Lester gestured towards Jose, "This is Jose Manoso. Jose, this is Joe Morelli."

Joe shook Jose's hand. "That explains why you look like Ranger."

"No, it explains why Carlos looks like me." Jose looked to Alex. "What happened to those manners of yours, Alex?"

"Hello, Detective Morelli." Alex said sweetly and gave him a smile that said I'm not happy to see you.

"Did you expect me not to answer that petition Alex?" Joe asked.

"Wasn't my idea to petition you." Alex said and looked over at him. "That's a question you need to ask my lawyer."

"Did you know I was on your birth certificate?" Joe asked.

"No. I've never seen my birth certificate, still haven't." Alex told him.

Joe watched as she looked back towards the front of the elevator. He pulled the folder he had out from under his arm and pulled a copy of her birth certificate out. Joe put it in front of her face so she could clearly read it. He watched as her eyes scanned the document. "What are those funny numbers down in the corner?"

Joe tilted the birth certificate so he could see it, "That is the state number for this document that was filed with them when you were born." _I can't believe that woman never showed this to her. I saw my birth certificate numerous times before I was her age._ Joe thought. "Do you know what hospital you were born in?"

"No." Alex answered. Jose was scribbling like mad on the pad he had in his hand. Alex looked over towards him. "Finding things interesting mind reaper."

Jose looked up, his eye brow shot up. "More than interesting. I'm intrigued."

Joe put the copy back in the folder. "You were born at St. Francis. I'm having your records pulled now." Joe bent down so he was at Alex's ear. "What's with the mind reaper?"

Alex closed her eyes. "The mind reaper likes to play games. He's some psych doctor of something or other. He wouldn't tell me exactly." The door opened and Alex stepped out and headed for the nearest restroom. Joe watched as she went inside. He turned to look at Lester and Jose.

Jose put up his pad and looked at Joe. "Psych doctor? What do you have your degree in?" Joe looked the man up and down. He did not have the air about him of a normal doctor, Joe had seen several doctors, the department always sent him to one after being undercover in the vice field after a case.

"Criminal Psychology, but don't tell Alex. She's having too much fun trying to guess. She won't answer my one question on another issue so I'm not answering hers." Jose smiled.

"Do you always bait your clients? Or is she your client? Who's paying for this?" Joe asked. He pushed his hands down into his pockets as he rocked back on his heals studying Ranger's brother.

"No, I don't always bait my clients. Yes she is my client and no there is no payment other than me paying her, for services rendered." Jose saw the blank mask go up on Joe's face and couldn't read anything from him. "She agreed to be my client, and has demanded payment up front, she doesn't trust easily and I've never had a client who has gotten more information out of me than she has so far. My clients are selected, I'm picky with who I choose to help."

"Exactly how is your roll reversed in this situation?" Joe asked. _What the hell is this? I thought Ranger was bad enough with his mysterious shit. Maybe this is who he learned it all from. _Joe thought.

"I'll tell you in confidence after we see if you have acquired the right to know. If you are indeed her parent, the contract which she has signed will need to be signed by her lawful guardian. I assure you, I have no intensions of hurting her." Jose said.

Joe saw Lester's grin and he turned to see what had caught Lester's attention. Alex had come out of the restroom. The summer dress brought out her tanned skin complexion rather well. She had a figure in the dress that the other clothes hid. Joe could see how she looked around with a wary expression before she walked over to them. She had her other clothes draped over her arm and Lester took them from her along with her shoes. Joe saw the monitor still on her left ankle. He saw the tattoos on her arms, the dress didn't hide those. "Is the monitor still necessary Santos?" Joe asked.

"More than necessary. I'd rather not lose her, and the tracking is the only thing that is on now." Lester looked at Alex who gave him a surprised look.

"What else is on that monitor?" Joe asked.

"It shocks the shit out of you if you go out of range of the receiver." Alex stated still looking at Lester who raised an eyebrow at what she said. "Can't really complain though, it doesn't hurt that bad."

Joe took two steps towards Lester, his back was turned towards Alex and he leaned over and whispered to Lester. "If she receives any damage from that device I'll have charges pressed against you."

Lester whispered back, "She hasn't received any damage from it. She won't, but I'm not taking it off. It is on for her protection."

Joe looked at Lester, he knew something wasn't being said, he also knew that Lester would say what it was if he pressed the issue. The door to the courtroom opened up and Joe turned to look at the lawyer who came out which was Alex's. Sharlene Tarlton had a dress bag in her hand. She looked at Alex and beamed. "I'm surprised. You actually have a dress on and I don't have to force you into one this time."

Alex put her hands behind her back and clasp them together, "Yes, ma'am. I knew I wouldn't have a choice on the matter. And you made your views vividly known the last time I was in court."

Sharlene's eyes darted towards Joe, "Come along then," she opened her arm wide for Alex and as soon as Alex was within reach she ushered Alex inside.

Joe noticed Sharlene's poster went into protection mode like a mother hen gathering her brood. He allowed Lester and Jose to go in after them, and then followed everyone into the court room. Joe went over to his lawyer and sat down beside her, she would be his lawyer for this one day until his real attorney could get away from the other case he was handling today. Joe's attorney leaned over to him, "emancipation is being thrown out. The judge has already agreed that it would be in the best interest of the child in question that a different avenue to be pursued for gaining independence."

"What? What do you mean I would have to do that if ordered?" Joe leaned back and looked over at Alex who had clearly disliked what her lawyer had said to her. He could see the spark of agitation and anger in her eyes.

"Hush." Sharlene said to her. "We don't want everyone in the court hearing this conversation."

He saw her cross her arms in front of her chest and leaned back in the chair she was sitting in and glare at her attorney. "What if I don't want to do it? Don't I have a say in this matter?"

"Not if the judge feels it is in your best interest." Sharlene hissed at her.

Joe didn't hear anything else as the bailiff in the court asked them all to rise. Joe stood beside his attorney. They all sat after the judge sat and the court reporter sat poised and ready for action to take place.

"Case of Ramono vs. Morelli is now in session." The judge looked over to Sharlene, "You may begin."

Joe didn't pay much attention to what Sharlene was saying at all with her opening statement. He watched Alex as she fidgeted in her chair, the way she looked down at the table, not even watching her lawyer. The doors in the back opened and Joe turned his head and saw two feds walking in. He leaned over to his lawyer and whispered, "Is there anyway we can have this room cleared out? I don't want the two people who walked in here listening to this." His attorney nodded. When Sharlene went back to her table to pick up a pad Joe's attorney stood.

"Your honor, I wish to invoke the rule." She looked over at Sharlene who nodded.

The judge ordered the courtroom be cleared other than the intended parties.

The bailiff moved from his guard position by the judge and walked to the swinging doors between the action on the floor and the audience arena behind the court floor. "Everyone who is not a party to this lawsuit will have to leave the courtroom."

Joe turned and watched as all members started leaving Lester looked at Joe and Joe gave him a shrug and a slight smile. Lester shook his head and followed Jose out of the court room. Joe turned back around in his seat his eyes connecting with Alex's. He winked at her, he saw how she was sitting differently now, not so stressed and tense. There were less people in the room, less meant more to him at this moment. They didn't need the world finding out what was going on this room. Joe didn't want the feds coming in and trying to get to Alex. Alex gave him a half smile and then turned back to face the judge.

Sharlene continued with her opening statement and then called Alex to the stand. Alex took a deep breath and went and sat where she was told, was sworn in and then only looked at Sharlene.

Joe listened as Sharlene questioned Alex about her work, when she worked and how much she received and whether or not she could support herself. She asked a lot of questions which put Alex in a good standing for a divorce from one Joseph Morelli. Joe also noted that Sharlene kept referring to her as Caitlyn. He told his lawyer this.

Sharlene looked to the Judge, "I have nothing further your honor."

"Your witness, Mrs. Anderson." The judge said.

Mrs Anderson stood, "Miss Ramono, what name do you prefer to go by and may I use it?"

"Alex. Sure."

Mrs. Anderson smiled, "Thank you, Alex. As Mrs. Tarlton has pointed out to us, you are a very independent young lady, you receive my congratulations. When did you find out Joseph Morelli was your father?"

"Two days ago." Alex said looking at Mrs. Anderson.

Mrs. Anderson walked around the table she was standing behind to walk to the podium. "In those two days can you say that you have grown to know that Mr. Morelli wouldn't be a good father?"

Alex looked to Sharlene who jerked her head for her to answer the question, she looked at Joe. Joe watched as her face contorted in concentration and her brow creased as she tried to find an answer.

"We're waiting Alex." The judge said softly.

Joe watched as Alex swung her head towards the judge and turned the chair she was sitting in away from the judge, he saw the same look on her face she had given Antoine at the pizza place. _Tone of voice, it's the tone of voice that has her like this. _Joe thought.

"Alex," Mrs. Anderson said. Joe watched as Alex shifted her look back to his attorney.

"No."

"You don't know, yet you want to revoke his rights without knowing the facts. Is that it?" Mrs. Anderson asked.

"I want to be on my own." Alex said.

Joe saw her look down and then she looked at him. He saw worry flit across her face.

"Why is that?" Mrs. Anderson asked.

"Because I can take care of myself. I've been doing it for some time now. I don't need anyone to take care of me." She looked to Mrs. Anderson.

"But you can't prove to the court that Mr. Morelli is a bad father, can you?" Mrs. Anderson asked.

"I…" Alex closed her eyes. Joe could see her struggle to control the temper that was welling under the surface. "No, I can't. I already told you, I didn't know he was my father until two days ago." She opened her eyes and looked at Sharlene. "I never saw my birth certificate, I didn't know."

Joe leaned back in his chair and linked his hands together with his thumbs under his chin as he watched Alex. _Don't push her anymore, none of this was her fault. Even her lawyer should have shown her the birth certificate before filing anything. _Joe thought.

Mrs. Anderson turned back around and walked back to the table and picked up a pad, she looked at Joe. Joe looked up and shook his head. She turned back to the judge. "Nothing further your honor."

The judge excused Alex. Joe watched as she sighed in relief. Joe winked at her, he knew she had saw what he had done. She ducked her head and walked quickly to her table and sat back down. Mrs. Anderson gave her opening statement and then Joe took the stand, he didn't bother looking at his lawyer after he was sworn in. He looked at Alex and kept his focus on her. He didn't have to prove anything to this court, the court didn't matter, what mattered was gaining the trust of a young lady sitting a few feet from him.

"Mr. Morelli, were you aware of your name being on Alex's birth certificate?" Mrs. Anderson asked.

"No, I wasn't." Joe answered.

"Do you feel you would be a dependable parent?" Mrs. Anderson asked.

"I would be dependable if I knew for certain she was mine." Joe answered. He saw Alex look up at him.

"You don't think she's yours?" Mrs. Anderson asked.

"I wasn't present at her birth, I didn't sign the papers that named her. I want to know she's mine legally. I feel this document has been falsified." He saw Alex shake her head, he knew she knew what was coming.

"Are you demanding a paternity test Mr. Morelli?" Mrs. Anderson asked.

"Yes. I want a paternity test done. If I turn out to be her father, then I want rights to my daughter that I have been denied for fifteen and a half years." Joe said.

"No further questions your honor." Mrs. Anderson went and sat behind their table.

Joe watched as Alex was arguing with Sharlene quietly. He couldn't hear what was being said, but he saw Sharlene sit back and give a shrewd look towards him and then turn to the Judge. "No questions for this witness your honor." Sharlene said.

Joe watched as Alex didn't look back at him. _What are you doing? I said everything I needed to say to get your DNA. What are you thinking? _Joe thought. He got up and left the witness chair after the judge dismissed him. He sat back down and looked at Alex.

The judge cleared his throat. Joe swung his gaze back to the judge. "In light of the circumstances. I feel it would be in the best interest of each party concerned that a paternity test be issued." He looked over to Alex. "I'll give my ruling in seventy-two hours after the test results come back to the court." He looked to Joe's attorney, "You'll need to file the proper documents with the Court in order for DNA to be drawn from the mother that appears on this birth certificate. I feel this will be in the best interest of the child." He looked back to Alex, "In lue of a parental guardian the court will act in your best interest. I feel we need to know if this document was falsified and that includes having your DNA tested against the mother in question as well. Until then, Mrs. Tarlton has said you have been staying with Lester Santos and has advised me of your association with a psychologist as well. I feel that has shown merit on your part and I'll not force you into a foster care placement at this time. You are free to leave with Lester Santos. Court adjourned."


	29. Chapter 29

Alex sat there, she knew Sharlene was upset with her. _I felt him looking at me the whole time. He got his lawyer to stop questioning me, I was getting frustrated up there. I couldn't let Sharlene question him. He said he didn't know, just like I didn't. I shook my head at him saying he wasn't present when I was born, my mother fucked with him just as much as she fucked with me. Dragon, the damned dragon, I thought my dragon was really only freedom, but what if what Jose said was true. What if it was really a father I was wanting? What if he really does want his rights? He said he thinks it was falsified? What if she isn't my mother? Who am I? I don't even know who I am right now, I need to know that. No foster care, this is a bonus._ Alex thought.

Sharlene was shoving papers back into her briefcase. Alex kept looking at the table before her watching how the grain in the table would wind down the lines and circles showing the growth of the wood.

"I don't know why you did it." Sharlene looked at Alex. "I just hope you know what you are doing." She leaned down and put her hand under Alex's chin and tilted her face up to her. "You better consider it a small victory that he let you go back into Lester Santos's care. Why didn't you let me question him?"

Alex swallowed. "You can't keep your promise. You had my birth certificate for months, and you never showed it to me. He did." She pulled her chin out of Sharlene's hand and pushed the chair back. "My name is Alex, quit calling me Caitlyn."

"You have a problem with your given name now?" Sharlene asked. "I don't like using Alex. You morph into a little street thug when I use that name. At least with Caitlyn it throws you off guard."

Alex stood up, "Maybe that's your problem. You can't handle how I really am. I don't have to explain anything to you as to why I don't like Caitlyn. You're not my psychologist."

Alex rounded Sharlene and was stopped by Sharlene reaching for her. "This is why I don't like calling you Alex. You have this pissed off, devil may care attitude towards the world. I've been doing nothing but trying to bust my ass to help you, I didn't see your birth certificate until Saturday myself. My assistant had it, he fucked up, and is gone because of it."

Alex looked up at Sharlene. "I don't like Caitlyn, I never have. You're the one who is repulsed by Alex. I have never morphed into a little street thug, a bitch maybe, but never a thug with you."

"I can't call you Alex. I couldn't help the client I had, the one I did pro-bono work for, her name was Alex, like yours, I'm sorry." Sharlene said.

Sharlene let her go. Alex saw the look on Sharlene's face, the hurt and pain that she finally shown through. "I'm not her. Don't look at me as some cause you have to settle to keep yourself together. I never asked that from you. I only asked you to help, I never asked you for promises, and those you threw out on your own."

"I know you're not her. I did promise you things I probably shouldn't have." Sharlene looked at her watch. "Damn! I have thirty minutes." She picked up her briefcase, "I'll call you." She walked with a brisk pace out of the courtroom.

Alex turned to leave and stopped. Joe was sitting on the table, his lawyer sitting in the chair both of them had watched what had just happened.

"I was beginning to doubt if you still had a lawyer." Joe said.

"Wouldn't be the first time I lost one." Alex replied.

Joe pushed off from the table and looked back down at Mrs. Anderson who was shaking her head. "How soon do we have to get tested?"

"I'll file the paperwork as soon as I have it written up. It'll be in by this afternoon." Mrs. Anderson stood. "Both you will be getting a call, sometime before five." She looked at Alex, "Try not to lose your lawyer, you actually have a good one."

She watched Mrs. Anderson walk away. Joe opened the swinging gate and looked back at Alex. "You coming?"

"Sure," Alex said, when she got to the gate she looked at Joe, "Do you know anything about dragons?"

"Do I need to slay one?" Joe asked as he raised his brows.

Alex laughed, "No. Not this dragon. I was just curious." Alex started walking down the isle towards the door to the courtroom. Joe put his hand out and touched her shoulder getting her to turn back to him.

"Why didn't you let her question me? What are you after?" Joe asked.

Alex looked up at him. She couldn't read his face, it was blank, and he was good at hiding his expressions. She looked into his eyes. "I don't know…" she looked around the courtroom was totally empty now. She felt his hand under her chin and he tilted her face back up to him.

"Yes you do, you put up a very good fight with your lawyer for it. Almost lost her, what is it Alex?" Joe asked.

"I want the dragon." She turned and ran out of the courtroom.

Jose watched as Alex came out of the courtroom and grabbed the clothes off Lester's lap. "Alex?" Lester questioned but she was already running to the restrooms. Jose looked up as Joe came out only a few seconds later, looking around.

"Where did she go?" Joe asked.

"Restroom." Jose answered. "What happened?"

Joe walked over and sat down putting his elbows on his knees and running his hands through his hair. "Blood test before five. Expect a phone call. Has she said anything to you about a dragon?"

Jose looked as Joe sat back up straight and looked at him. Lester laughed and got up and went to the window over looking the grounds of the courtyard.

"What is the dragon she's wanting?" Joe asked.

"I can't tell you that. I can only give away that information to her lawful guardian. What did she say to you?" Jose asked.

Joe crossed his arms and glared at Jose. "Why should I tell you if you won't tell me what the damn dragon is?"

Jose shook his head, "Not going there. I'm her psychologist and I only play tit for tat with one client. You aren't my client."


	30. Chapter 30

Stephanie sat the phone down as the pizza arrived, she had asked Mary Lou the one question that would probably start the burg gossip mill going even more. _It's a simple question. Who would want to hurt Joe so bad that they felt he had hurt them that way? Bad enough that they felt the need to take his child away without him knowing, if it is his child. Yes, that ought to do it._ Stephanie thought.

"I told you, you're not supposed to meddle." Lula said.

"I'm not meddling, everyone else is." Stephanie smiled and picked up a slice of pizza and started eating.

"Shit! What you did isn't meddling? No one didn't have what you just gave them." Lula said.

"We're talking fifteen and a half years of cover up Lula. That is an awful long time for something this big to have stayed hidden." She took a drink of her coke.

Eddie walked over to their table after he came in with Big Dog. "I heard you and Joe are getting married once he has custody of his child. I also heard she could be yours? You holding out on all of us?"

Stephanie choked on her coke, and Eddie slapped her back until she could breath properly again. "Excuse me? I think I would know if I gave birth to a child." She looked at Eddie as he slid in next to her on the bench seat. "If she was mine. She would be a hamster. She wouldn't have her life together like she does. She'd be wanting to live in a fantasy world all the time. Not connected to reality."

Eddie laughed, "This is about Peter Pan again, isn't it?"

"Hey, it could have happened." Stephanie said as she picked up another slice of pizza.

Eddie laughed even more at Lula's face. "Stephanie thought she could fly when she was younger, jumped off the roof to try."

Lula started laughing. "Girl, no wonder you are so spaced at times. Peter Pan ain't real."

"I didn't stay in the Peter Pan phase long after that. I moved on."

Eddie put his arm around Stephanie's shoulder, "So what do you want for your wedding gift?"

"There isn't going to be a wedding." Stephanie glared at him, "I'm not marrying Joe, I'm not even seeing him at the moment. I'm seeing someone else."

"Who are you seeing?" Eddie asked, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

"Batman's here with my man." Lula said.

Stephanie turned to see Ranger and Tank after the door closed behind them. Eddie turned his head to look towards the door, and saw Ranger and Tank come over to the table. "You're in my seat Officer Gazzara."

"Excuse me Ranger, didn't know my cousin-in-law had this seat saved for you." Eddie said as he turned back to Stephanie and kissed her temple. "Call me later." He got up and walked over to where Big Dog was sitting and sat down. Ranger gave him a nod.

Tank held had out his hand to Lula, "We need to swap side's love."

Ranger held out his hand to Stephanie, "It's more comfortable on the other side."

"Is it," Stephanie asked, "why would that be?"

"I'll be over there." Ranger told her.

Stephanie took his hand and then after playing Chinese fire drill around the table everyone got settled back in.

"You two have been behaving I hope?" Tank asked.

"Yup." Stephanie said as she pulled her phone over as it rang and answered it.

"Jason Wilson had a grudge with Morelli for winning first string spot as short stop." Mary Lou told her. "Jason was in Morelli's year, we know he let the air out of his tires after games. How deep in high school years are we going to have to dig for stuff Steph?"

"I don't think it would be Jason, he pretty much had that out in the open. I don't know, it could be in any year he was in school. Maybe it was some sort of love triangle." Stephanie told her.

She felt Ranger's arm go over her shoulder and pull the phone from her ear.

"Hey, give me that back." Stephanie told him.

"You aren't behaving." Ranger said with a grin, he put the phone to his ear.

"I don't know, I never heard of…Hello? Hello?" Ranger heard Mary Lou say.

"Mary Lou, don't you think Morelli can solve this on his own?" Ranger asked her.

"Oh shit, umm, Ranger?"

"Yes." Ranger answered as he kept his head away from Stephanie's hands as she tried to get her phone back.

"Good call, gotta go." Mary Lou hung up the phone.

Ranger handed Stephanie her phone back. "She didn't want to talk to me."

Stephanie groaned, "The last time she saw you she almost wet her pants. I wonder why." She moved her phone into her pocket. It rang again, but she resisted the urge to get it.

"Babe, I have that effect." Ranger said. "Are you going to answer your phone?"

Stephanie picked up a slice of pizza. "No, I'm eating. Lunch, it's this known meal during the middle of the day that I need."

"Food is a good idea." Ranger said as he reached over and wiped the sauce from the side of Stephanie's mouth with his finger and then licked it off his finger.

Joe pulled into the station parking lot, he saw Antoine standing by the back door of the station. He walked over to him, Antoine was grinning broadly.

"What's up?" Joe asked.

Antoine handed him the folder. "Got the records. I'm not sure if you want to go inside though."

An eyebrow rose on Joe's forehead, "Why would that be?" He asked as he took the folder and opened it up. He started going over the record of Alex's birth.

"They did something to your desk." Antoine started laughing, real hard and had to bend over holding his stomach.

Joe closed the folder and scowled at Antoine, "When did they do this? I haven't been gone but a little over an hour and a half."

"I was picking up the records when they did this."

"What exactly did they do to my desk?" Joe asked.

"I can't say, I was sworn not even to warn you." Antoine laughed again.

Joe hit his shoulder with the folder and then went through the back door after he swiped his coded key card to enter. Antoine followed him and stayed a few paces back. Joe walked down the hall and then turned into the department's office section. He walked into the detective's office section and around several cubed areas. He stopped short when he saw the balloons floating over the double desk cube. They were pink and white, the streamers were pink and hung from the ceiling. The banner read: _It's a Girl!_ Joe bit his tongue and moved further in towards the shared cube. He noticed the room was deathly quiet. _I'm so going to pay them back for this. I don't even know if she's mine. These guys are jumping the gun on this. _Joe thought.

His eyes fell on the baby t-shirt onesie that was taped to the top of his monitor and hung down in front of the black screen. It was white, with an iron on design of a little girl in a diaper. The little girl was sitting down in a mud puddle, blonde curls hung on her head, she had little devil horns coming out of the curls. A halo was hanging askew from one horn and a little devil tail was coming out of the diaper from behind. Below the iron on the words written said: _Daddy's Little Angel_.

Joe put his hands on his hips, the next thing he saw was a bottle of Maalox with a pink bow on top and a slip of paper under it. He moved closer and read the paper, _For the acid buildup waiting for her to come home._ He saw the bottle of Crown Royal next and read the slip of paper under it, _For the argument celebrations you actually win. _He then looked to the paper under the box of Advil, _For the arguments you actually lose, in case this doesn't work, go for the Crown. _He then read the next slip of paper under the toy gun, _Use instead of the real thing, for the time when the first guy breaks her heart._

He went to sit down and saw the big box that was wrapped in silver and pink paper, that had little baby angels all over it. "I'm almost afraid to open the box."

"I'm dying to see what's in the box." Antoine said, "Open the box."

Joe sat the folders he had on his desk and then picked up the box out of his chair, he could hear laughter from behind the other cubes now. He opened the wrapping and the top flap of the box. Inside he saw a hot pink plastic something, and then he pulled it out and found it was head gear. He looked inside and saw a whole set of karate sparring gear that was hot pink. He saw the note and took it out and read, _Not intended for your daughter, sole use to be used by you, for your protection should the arguments become physical._

Joe shoved the gear back in the box. "As soon as I find out who gave me this gear, they are dead." Joe growled out loudly. He heard the roars of laughter coming from different cubes in the room. _If this was anyone else other than me, this would be hilarious. I can't believe them._ Joe thought. He looked at the bottle of Crown contemplating opening it right now and drinking it.

Alex followed Lester into the elevator at the office buildings on Haywood. Jose walked in, she looked at him.

"Answer my question, you said you would answer questions." Jose stated.

She wanted to slap the grin off his face, "I told you, I asked him if he knew anything about dragons. Then he asked if he needed to slay one. That's it."

"Bullshit!" Lester coughed into his closed fist.

"There is more to it. Give it up." Jose said.

Alex put her hands on her hips. "Only if I can workout and have you on the floor with me."

"No. I'm not looking for punishment from you. You said we could talk after court, it's after court." Jose said.

"I have been talking." Alex stated.

"Beating around the bush, over it, under it, and around it." Lester said with a short laugh.

"I never said I would talk about it." Alex stated as the elevator doors opened up.

"Let her work out." Jose said. "I can talk to some of the guys it's been awhile since I've been down anyway."

Lester groaned as he followed them out of the elevator. "You should have talked to Jose instead. I hate therapy sessions with him."

Alex laughed. "Now I don't feel so bad."

Lester put his hands on her shoulders, "Workout room, you'll have to shower some place else afterwards." He guided her down the hall and then opened the door to the workout room.

Alex looked around the gym that was in the office building that Ranger owned. She nodded her approval at the set up. Weight machines that worked every range of muscle the human body had. Mirror's lined the walls, half the floor was carpeted the other half had a mat that laid down. Alex left and went upstairs to where her room was across from Lester's, he had opened the door for her and she went in and pulled out clothes she could work out in. She changed into the black sports bra and looked in the mirror, most of the bruises now looked the horrid shade of green and yellow. She figured another couple of days and they would be gone. Pushing in on her ribs, she found they were still sore, but she hadn't worked out in awhile and she needed to get her muscles limbered back up. Alex pulled on the purple and black tank top, and then pulled on the black gi bottoms that had the purple dragon and silver dragon running down the left pant leg. She didn't put back on shoes or socks and grabbed the gear bag, she headed back down to the workout room.

No one was inside yet so she went over to the matted floor and started stretching, she was in the Chinese splits position with her body stretched out on the floor in front of her when Bobby and Lester walked into the room.

"Damn that hurts just looking at it," Bobby said.

Alex's head came off the floor and looked at them. "Just takes practice to get this limber."

"A guys body doesn't work that way." Lester stated.

Hal, Paco, and Tommy came in as Alex sat up and leaned all the way over to her right leg. She ignored the comments coming from the guys and continued stretching her muscles out. She just got into position to do push-ups when Lester and Bobby squatted down in front of her.

"Any day now." Bobby said.

Alex put her hands into fists and went to her knuckles. She placed her left leg over her right and went down and back up. "I'm almost done."

Lester watched as she did twenty push-ups that way and then switched legs and did twenty more.

"I think I'm going to let her do her stretch routine with Lula and Stephanie. Hers looks like it would hurt more." Bobby said.

Lester saw Alex's head come up, "At least they probably wouldn't pull a muscle." She pushed up on her legs and went into a hand stand on her knuckles and did five push-ups off the floor and came back down. "Okay, I'm ready, just need to put on my gear."

Bobby looked at Lester as Alex walked off, "I can't do a push-up that way, have you done a push-up that way?"

"No," Lester swung his head to watch Alex as she pulled out the thick feet gear, which was silver. "Don't get her angry while we spar, she'll go for blood."

"She's that good?" Bobby asked. He had seen her fight in the pit, but fighting with someone who knew something was different.

"Yeah, watch her feet, she's quick with them." Lester said as he saw her place thin silver gloves over her hands. She opened a mouth guard box and put the guard in her mouth to protect her teeth. She stood up. "Head gear." Lester told her, "put your head gear on."

Alex gave him a nasty look, spit out the mouth guard, "I'll be fine."

Lester stood up, "Put the head gear on, or no sparring."

Digging back inside the bag she pulled out the silver head gear and then strapped it on. Bobby was grinning, "I have a feeling this is going to be good."

Bobby pulled everyone in, explained twenty minutes sparring on, two minutes each sparring partner then rotate until the twenty minutes were up, five minute break, then back out for another twenty minutes, five minute break, and then last ten minutes. "No face contact with Alex." Bobby said. "Let's party boys."

Alex noticed how the first twenty minutes seemed to fly by. The only one that she had a problem sparring with was Hal. He tagged her ribs twice already. She had her hands crossed over her head and taking deep breaths. Her ribs stung, but she was determined to get a full workout.

Bobby grabbed Hal by the shirt and pulled him off by himself. "I saw that last tag. Lay off her ribs. Just because you didn't see that ridge hand she threw doesn't give you the right to tag her ribs that way. We don't do that with each other when sparring, you know that."

Hal pulled Bobby's hand off and bent over and grabbed his knees, "I wasn't thinking. Damn her feet are quick."

"Yes, just as fast as Ranger's." Bobby said. "Watch the power."

"I didn't mean to tag her that hard the last time." Hal said catching his breath.

Half way through the next round of sparring, Ranger walked in with Tank. Stephanie and Lula came in and Ranger pointed to a bench they could sit and watch. Ranger and Tank went and changed and came back out. Ranger saw Bobby's fist go out and Alex turned right into it.

"Shit!" Bobby grabbed Alex by her shoulder as she turned around. "Let me see."

Ranger walked over avoiding Lester with Paco to get over to Alex. Alex was wiping her left eye. Ranger grabbed the top of the head gear and tilted her face up. "Move your hand tiger." When she moved her hand away he saw a slight puff around her left eye. "You'll be okay." Ranger tapped the top of her head gear. "Rotate!" He yelled out to the room. "You're with me." He told Alex.

Alex turned away from Ranger with her hands above her head and walked in a small circle and turned back to him. Ranger watched as she set herself in a defensive stance leaving the weight off her front leg, for no chance of sweeping it. He moved in with a back fist, she blocked his fist and came over the top and Ranger ducked before her ridge hand made contact with his head. He backed up and shook his head. He saw her left foot tap the ground briefly and the leg came up in a crescent aimed right at his head, he backed up and had to back up another time as her right foot came around with a come around side kick. He spun to his left and came around and shot a back fist to her head gear popping her head slightly as he did it. Alex growled when she got tagged. Ranger grinned. Alex spun and then swept his front leg, Ranger hopped and backed away quickly then adjusted his weight.

Ranger continued on for another minute sparring with Alex and called rotate. They went on for ten more minutes and then he called for a break. He huddled his guys around him as he sent Alex over for water.

"Okay, give out the information." Ranger told them.

"Weak on the left side," Bobby said.

"Taps her left foot before her crescents," Tommy said.

"Fast feet," Hal said.

Paco laughed at Hal, "Over extends with her ridge hand."

"Drops her hand before the come around side kick," Tank put in.

"Tag her and she loses concentration for the next three combinations she throws," Lester added.

Ranger looked at Hal, "You didn't see anything other than she has fast feet?"

"Well, she hasn't fought with her right side out," Hal said.

Ranger looked around to each of them. He looked back over towards Alex. "Game plan, next ten minutes. We shut down her telegraph on those crescents she throws. Let her figure it out, don't give it to her. She throws that crescent catch it, and put her on the ground."


	31. Chapter 31

Alex drank the water but not a lot; she didn't want to get sick for drinking too much while sparring. She put her head gear back on when Ranger called for the next round to begin. Tank grinned down at her as she looked up at him. She put her left hand out to tag in and he tagged the top of her glove. Alex started hopping in a circle fashion going around him, she brought up the left crescent and Tank grabbed her leg, grabbed her left shoulder and put her on the floor.

Alex was getting frustrated by the time the time she got to Ranger. _What am I doing? They know what kick I'm throwing, it's not the chamber it's too fast. _Alex thought as she ducked Ranger's front fist, and hopped back from his ax grind kick. She tapped her left foot getting ready to throw the crescent and saw his hands move, she stopped midway in the air from throwing the kick. _The tap, I'm so giving away my kicks. Damn, not good. _Alex thought. She put her left side back and switched to her right. She saw Ranger raise an eyebrow. _Okay, buddy, let's see how you like my power side._ Alex thought.

She pushed off the floor with her back left foot and pivoted in the air and drove her right foot with the heel straight to his chest. Ranger barely dodged the kick. Alex spun to the left with a rear come around crescent and laid her foot up on his shoulder and tapped the side of his head. Ranger grabbed her leg, reached under and grabbed her shirt in the middle and then put her on the floor.

"Smartass," Ranger said. "Did you figure it out?"

"Tap, right before I throw it."

"Good job, Tiger. Go back to the left stance, throw the kick, and don't telegraph it." Ranger grabbed her right hand and hoisted her off the ground.

Joe read through the birth records again, he flipped over to the last sheet and stopped picking up the coke he was going for. On the back of the last sheet were tiny little hand prints and feet prints. He picked back up the sheet, a slight smirk about his mouth. He stood up and went over to the scanner that was in the small hall area and placed the sheet down and scanned in the prints. Alex's prints were on file, and he wanted to confirm the prints.

_If I'm right, and Alex isn't Ramono's then these prints shouldn't match her. They should throw up a red flag and not match Alex at all. _Joe thought. He pulled out the print copy and went back to his desk and started up the program to compare and match prints. The program booted up and Joe leaned back in the chair, he started typing in Alex's name into the program and brought up her prints on file that they had and then called in the new prints that had been scanned in by him. He hit the compare button. Joe took a drink of the coke and waited.

Antoine was typing away on other paperwork he had needed to catch up on while Joe worked on the birth records. "What did you scan in?"

"Prints from the birth record," Joe picked up the page where he supposedly had signed for the girl. He leaned out of the cube, "Kirkpatrick!"

"Yeah!"

"Get over here." Joe yelled back.

"Why can't you use the phone?" Came the reply from another cube.

"Bite me Stanvick." Joe yelled at the replier.

Kirkpatrick came walking over to Joe's and Antoine's cube. "What is it Morelli?"

Joe handed him the page, "Can you run that signature? I don't have that program on this computer."

Kirkpatrick took the sheet and looked down at the name. "This is your signature."

Joe pulled out one of his folders that had his signature on it and showed Kirkpatrick, "No it isn't, this is mine."

Kirkpatrick looked from Joe's real signature to the fake one. "This person is a lefty. The slant of the hand shows left. I'll run it." He left with the fake signature after he handed Joe back the paper that had his real one on it.

The computer beeped and Joe looked back to the screen. The blinking box had one word in it: **MATCH.**

"This shouldn't happen." Joe shook his head at the computer.

"What?" Antoine asked.

"The prints match."

Antoine shifted around his chair and looked at Joe, "How is that possible? She isn't the child's mother."

"That is what I'm wondering? How much of her identity is actually hidden?" Joe pulled back over the birth record documents and went through them. He had gone over these documents five times now. He stood up and started pacing outside his cube. Joe kept running his hands through his hair.

"Let me take a look at them." Antoine went over to Joe's chair and sat down.

"Be my guest. I have to be missing something. But what?" Joe asked.

"Relax! She's probably not your daughter. I think we should still look into the missing child cases you asked me to drop this morning." Antoine said.

"What if she is?" Joe asked. He groaned out in frustration and walked back over to his desk and picked up the first sheet that Antoine had discarded. _K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid. It has to be something simple I'm not seeing, it has to be right in front of my face._ Joe thought. He looked to the bottom of the page on the left hand side and saw the code for the document. He read page one of fourteen. "What page number are the prints on?"

Antoine shuffled to the last page. "Seventeen."

Joe started laughing. Antoine looked at him. "You're starting to scare me. Want to share?"

"She's not Ramono's." Joe went and laid the page down and pointed to the code for the document. Antoine saw it.

"We have to get the rest of the records that go with the prints." Antoine said.

"Yes." Joe picked up the file and shoved everything into it. "Let's go."

"If she's not Ramono, then where is Ramono?" Antoine asked.

"Don't know. We'll have to figure that out." Joe started walking down the cube isles. "Kirkpatrick, call my cell after you run that."

"We'll do!" Joe saw his head come up over the cubes low wall. "Where you headed?"

"Back to the records storage. Two kids." Joe said and left the room with Antoine.

"Sweet Jesus!" Joe heard Kirkpatrick answer on their way out.

Stephanie answered the cell phone she had put on vibrate, "Hello." She whispered quietly.

"Why are you whispering?" Mary Lou asked.

"Because Ranger is in the room. He's busy right now. What have you got?"

Stephanie looked over and saw Ranger sparring with Tank, the only thing she learned in the last few minutes of watching them spar is that she didn't want to do it. Matter of fact, she didn't even want to be in the workout room. She saw Ranger glance over at her and then back to Tank just in time to dodge from being hit in the face. Lula was dancing in her seat next to Stephanie throwing punches in the air.

"Junior year, Joe was seeing Babs, I called Babs. Okay, Babs said Joe got drunk one night, they all had been drinking. But Joe called Babs a different name, when they were you know…doing it."

"What was the name? Joe has never done that before that I know of." Stephanie said.

"Well she said it was…" That was as much as Stephanie heard because Ranger pulled the phone away from ear.

"Babe," Ranger said and shut the phone off. "You are supposed to be paying attention. Bobby is going to have you and Lula sparring in the next day or so. You said you would pay attention if I let you keep your phone."

"No!" Stephanie jumped up. "I almost had a name. I need to call Mary Lou back."

Ranger put the phone over his head. "No. You promised you would pay attention."

Stephanie jumped up trying to get it. "Give it back!" Stephanie glared at him then dove for him.

Alex turned her head when Stephanie shouted. She had her left side out facing Hal, not paying attention to him. She saw Stephanie dive for Ranger and busted out laughing. Hal spun and his foot landed right in her ribs. Alex went down to her knees gasping for air. She looked up with pain contorted on her face at the guys watching Stephanie and Ranger now rolling around the floor for the cell phone. Her breathing was short and fast. The burning in her ribs was making it harder to breath. Hal bent down, "Are you okay?"

"Hal! What did you do?" Ranger growled out amid all the laughter which stopped as all eyes swung towards her and Hal. Stephanie was under Ranger who was sitting on top of her and with his hands holding her wrists, in her right hand was her cell phone.

"She wasn't looking. I didn't mean to kick her there." Hal said now realizing that Ranger was on the floor with Stephanie and not knowing how they got there.

Alex pushed off the floor, her breathing was still coming short and fast, she chambered her leg up towards her chest and fired her leg down in a stomp kick at Hal's face as he turned to look up at her.

"Jesus!" Tank said as he heard the snap and Hal's face started pouring blood.

Alex had her foot back in chamber then turned holding her ribs and started heading for the door. Ranger jumped up off of Stephanie. Alex made it half way towards the door before she felt her arms lifted up. Lester held her arms up, "Stop, breathe. Just breathe."

Ranger pulled off the thin sparring gloves he had on, he saw Tank going for Hal and Lester going for Alex.

"My fucking nose is broke." Hal's voice sounded distant. "She broke my damn nose."

Ranger went to Alex and pulled up the tank top and he started checking her ribs feeling if any of them were broke. He lowered her top back down.

Bobby looked over to Ranger, "I already told him to watch his power. I told him to lay off her ribs."

He saw the look Lester gave Hal, "Leave it. He got what he deserved, we are supposed to be sparring, and sparring only."

Ranger looked to Bobby then over to Hal. "Get him out of here Tank."

Ranger nodded to Lester who help guide Alex out of the way so Tank could get Hal out of the workout room. He looked at Alex who was taking deeper breaths now. "You're going to get an x-ray this time. I'm sorry; we have rules when we spar, like you do in the dojo. Hal knows the rules. I'm sorry this happened, Alex."

Ranger reached under her chin and pulled the strap holding the head gear in place loose. He slipped off the head gear and tossed it. "Lester, why don't you and Bobby take her to go see Doc. His clinic has an x-ray machine in it."

Lester lowered her arms, and then took the gloves off. He tossed them aside with her head gear, he squatted and lifted her foot and started taking off the feet gear. Bobby walked over to them, "I don't want to piss you off, Alex. You go for blood when you get mad."

Ranger saw Alex look at Bobby, "He shouldn't have kicked me there."

"No, he shouldn't have." Ranger said. Ranger tapped her on the head, "You'll live, tiger."

He walked over to where Stephanie was back on the cell phone again. Ranger shook his head. _This was my fault, I shouldn't have taken Stephanie's cell phone. Alex would have been able to block that kick, I'm as much responsible for what happened as Hal is. Damn that man. Serves him right he got his damn nose broken. _Ranger thought. He watched as Stephanie was bouncing up and down with excitement.

"I got the name, I got the name." Stephanie said as she slapped Ranger on the chest. "Don't take my cell phone again."

Ranger looked over to see if Alex was gone, she wasn't in the room. He looked back at Stephanie. "Well? What's the name?"

"Sarah, that's it. Don't know anything else yet. There were several Sarah's in school, I just have to narrow down which one now." Stephanie said with a pleased gloat.

"Babe, why can't you let Morelli do this?" Ranger asked.

"He called me, he didn't ask me. But he gave hints, he couldn't talk openly. I know he wants me to help. I'm going to help." Stephanie said, "Besides, I'm tired of people calling and asking if she's mine now."

"The only thing I ask Babe, is don't let Alex hear."

"I'm not going to let her hear anything. My God, you think I want to tell her any of that. You saw what she did to Hal, she'd end up killing the person." Stephanie said. "I value my life more than that."

Ranger chuckled, "She won't kill anyone. It's just," Ranger reached down and pulled off the feet guards and the shin pads. "Babe, she is Morelli's daughter. If you just look at her, you can see it. Morelli needs to tell her who she is. I don't want anyone to take that away from him. Alex needs that more than he does, she needs to hear it from her father, Babe."

Stephanie came up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, "You're a softy inside all of that muscle." She kissed him.

Joe and Antoine walked into the offsite storage facility. The receptionist blushed when she looked up and saw both of them. Antoine grinned at her. "I'm back."

"What can we help you with now, Detective?" The redhead asked.

Joe watched as Antoine went over to the counter and leaned on it. Antoine smiled at the woman. "The file I picked up has a slight problem. It's not complete and there is a piece of another file with it."

"Oh no!" She looked around the office. "Nick isn't going to like this."

"Who is Nick?" Joe asked.

"Nick is the old coot around here. He's done the file systems for ages." She stood up, "can you let me see the files. If it turns out to be the years I think it is, you'll have to have Nick find this for you."

Antoine handed her the file. "We have the first thirteen pages of the one file. And page seventeen of the other. We need both files now, and complete files at that."

She took the file and then started typing in the file log numbers. "Exactly what I was afraid of."

"What?" Joe asked.

"Well, twenty years ago, everything from the hospital was moved to our facility. During that time, we never had problems with the files getting mixed up. You see the code on the hospital work, well Nick added codes to the paperwork for the file system." She looked up at Joe and Antoine. "Nick's system is a good one, several years ago we had several employees who were dumb as shit. The files all got screwed up, we still have files that come back in from fourteen to sixteen years ago that have to be restored back to their originals."

"How long will this take?" Antoine asked.

"I'm not sure. Only Nick is the miracle worker when it comes to finding this stuff. He can find a needle in a haystack."

"Who were the employees?" Joe asked.

She closed the file and handed it back to Antoine. "I don't know them, only Nick knows them. Let me call him for you. If you can have a seat, it'll take awhile."

Joe and Antoine moved over to the chairs in the waiting area and sat down. Joe looked over at Antoine.

"I don't like this." Antoine said.

"Smells fishy." Joe replied.

Antoine handed Joe the file. "So we have two babies. One is Ramono, and the other for sake of giving her a name is Alex. We don't know where Ramono is at or what became of Ramono."

Joe moved closer to Antoine and his voice just as low as Antoine's. "Ramono is probably dead. Alex was probably a replacement for Ramono."

Antoine nodded, "To cover up the replacement, the records were tampered with."

"Tampered with enough that whoever did it had to make it appear there was a problem with a lot of files to hide the files they really wanted no one looking for."

"Yes." Antoine leaned in his seat, "We need to find out who tampered with the files? Where is Ramono? Who Alex really is?"

"Not to mention why I am in the middle of this." Joe stated.

The door opened and an old man walked in, he stood no more than five feet. He had the brightest green eyes Joe had ever seen, his silver hair made him distinguished. He wore a brown cardigan over the white button up shirt he had on and his glasses hung down towards the end of his nose. Joe and Antoine stood up.

"Nick, these are the two detectives I was telling you about." The receptionist said loudly.

"Eh? What was that? Quit yer blasted mumble wimble." Nick graveled out.

Joe grit is teeth and closed his eyes trying to gain his composure.


	32. Chapter 32

"The detectives!" The redhead shouted.

Joe went over to Nick.

"Why didn't ya say so instead of just mumbl'n." Nick growled out. Joe extended a hand to shake. Nick looked at it and then said. "Follow me ya two."

Joe and Antoine followed Nick through the doors to the inner workings of the file department.

"Dawg gum blasted filly, called me away from the files." Nick muttered as he shuffled along. "Doesn't give me any respect and keeps yelling at me like I'm deaf."

Nick's voice sounded like it belonged to a bear, not the little old man that Joe was following. Joe looked at Antoine and Antoine shrugged at hearing this little speech.

"I tell ya, she's a looker. Love ta see those flushed cheeks, makes a man proud. Bet she's been doing someth'n again, probably got the files wrong when she pulled them. No wonder the darn blasted cops keep showing up, first the feds and now detectives, makes me wonder what in tar nation is wrong with the youth of this day."

Joe didn't know whether to laugh or pity the old man as he shuffled down the long walk and then turned into an office. He turned around and went behind a desk and sat down.

"Well, slap it on the desk and let me take a gander at it." Nick said.

Joe sat the file down. "It's the last page, I need the files for that record as well as obtaining the last page of the record we have." Joe said loudly.

"No need ta shout boy, I ain't deaf ya know. Just don't tell the filly up front." Nick looked up at him. "Take a seat."

Antoine sat in one chair and Joe sat in the other, Antoine had a grin on his face and Joe glared at him. Nick lit a cigarette and then opened the folder, the cigarette hung out his mouth while a cloud of smoke billowed up. Joe was reminded of a small smoking chimney as he watched the smoke rise.

"Damn blasted hypocrite these are the years he was working here. Damn an tar nation, he crossed the years up. This one should be in naught of ninety-one and the other in ninety." Nick shook his head and drew in a good long drag. Joe watched the tip of the cigarette flare to life as it moved down the white paper and darkened it. Nick looked up, "Ya say ya need both files? Why is that boy?"

"The case I'm working on requires both files. The prints on the last page showed positive for a person who is being detained." Joe answered, "Who was working here during those years?"

"Damn blasted leather and pig skin was working here." Nick answered as he drew in another puff and let the smoke billow down and out his nose. Nick stood up grabbing the folder Joe brought with him, "Come with me, I sure hope ya ain't got nuttin' better ta do, because I'm gonna need some help in the file room finding what ya need."

"Don't you have anyone working here to help you?" Antoine asked.

"Not where we're headed, ya think I let just anyone in. I don't ya pole cat." Nick told Antoine. "Follow me and ya'll see why."

"Does this leather and pig skin have a name?" Joe asked. He shrugged his shoulders to Antoine and they followed crotchety old Nick out of the office.

"I done tol' ya his name boy." Nick answered.

"Leather and pig skin, isn't a name." Antoine said.

"I ain't talk'n ta ya pole cat."

Joe coughed to cover up his laughter. Antoine hit Joe in the shoulder. "Shut up."

Nick waved his hand to the left as they walked out of the hall way into a vast room that was three to four stories high. "This here is the main room, the clean room. The room hypocrite didn't get a hold of. Has the naught years of ninety-four to present in them."

Joe looked over the room and swallowed hard.

"Damn, I'm glad we don't have to go through that." Antoine said.

"Ah! Dawg gum pole cat thinks this room is hard. Nah, ya ain't seen the blasted room we do have ta go in." Nick came to the stairs and each stair down one at a time. At the bottom of the stairs he put out the cigarette in a standing cigarette container. "Boy, if I were ya, I drop this here pole cat, ain't got no sense, no sense at all."

Joe snickered. He was beginning to like this crotchety old geezer.

Nick shuffled along with Joe and Antoine following him. "We use ta have others helping me. But, then they just thicker than goats fat in a deep fryer. Can't nothin' sink into a brain made of concrete. Now it's just me and the filly up front. An she ain't suppose ta pull the files in the leather years. I don't know why she done, done it anyway. Damn filly makes a mess of things when she pulls files she ought ta know not ta pull."

_Leather, leather and pig skin. He keeps calling them leather. Pig skin. Football is made of pig skin, a basketball is made of pig skin. Football, basketball, _Joe thought. His mind kept racing as he listened to Nick and his mutterings. _Wilson makes a lot of those balls. Wilson. Wilson._

"Nick, is Wilson, Leather and pig skin?" Joe asked.

"See now this is why yar the boy and he's the pole cat. Ya can tell when ya look at people which ones has the brains and which ones don't." Nick said as he stopped and turned around to look up at Joe. "Wilson was a damn blasted hypocrite ta boot, gave me more fits than a dog with two peters and don't know which bitch ta go after first."

Joe laughed. "I can imagine it would."

Antoine crossed his arms across his chest. "I'm not stupid, Nick."

"Ah, pole cat, quit ya teasing ya self." Nick turned and shuffled onward.

Joe kept laughing at the hurt expression on Antoine's face. _This old coot is crazy, he isn't senile but he sure is crazy. Bet no one wanted to work with him, could be why he has to have help._ Joe thought.

"Tell us more about Wilson." Joe said.

"Ah, back ta the pig skin are ya. Well, this here pig skin is dark as ya can get. He's one of them crazies. Would talk about naught on the phone all the time, always talked ta the one demon filly he had in his barn. Now leather didn't bother ta think naught while I was around, he thought I was deaf as a doorknob back then just as much as the filly out front."

"You didn't bother to correct them?" Antoine asked.

"Now pole cat, how can I tell ya about Wilson if ya gonna go an interrupt that way." Nick said.

Joe slapped Antoine on the arm. "Ya, don't go an interrupt the man."

"See pay attention ta that boy, he's sharp as a tack that one is." Nick came to the end of one of the long row of files and turned right then started down that aisle. "Now, where was I, oh yeah, now I remember, leather was always talkin' ta his here demon filly, and she always was a yelling and a screaming about some joke of a blow hole she had a hanker'n for."

Nick stopped and pulled out a set of keys and unlocked a large caged door. He swung the rusted gate forward and stepped through. Joe and Antoine followed him dutifully through the gate and Nick shut it after them. He moved on and Joe could see the files were not so neat and orderly as they had been on the floor they had just left. These files were still in boxes. Loose papers scattered here and there in tall piles.

"This here be Wilson's mess. Naught of ten years of paperwork from three separate hospitals." He turned to look at Joe and Antoine, "What we're a lookin' fer will take some time. I tol' ya I was gonna need some help. I had the feds in naught but two weeks ago. Them dumber than shit cow turds made more of a mess than Wilson." Nick let out a deep huff. "I'm gonna trust ya boy ta keep this here pole cat in line."

Nick moved over to a desk in the middle of one of the piles. He cleared a space off and laid down the file that Joe and Antoine brought to him. He sat down and opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a ledger. He flipped open the birth folder and then opened his ledger. Joe watched as he checked the ledger for the marks on the left bottom of the birth record.

"Alright, this here is what ya have ta do. Ya see the MCMXCI and then the MCMXC, that there is the years. One is naught of ninety-one that is the lone prints ta the file ya are needing ta restore, then the other is ninety that just needs the last page of the file for it ta be restored." Nick looked up at Joe.

"Okay, keep going." Joe said.

"This here ninety file I have almost done. After ya get through the years, ya see the SFMC, that is one hospital." Nick pulled Alex's prints out and then pointed to the other initials. "This is SMFC. The first being St. Francis Medical Center and the other being St. Mary Francis Convent. Now if that had been Trenton Methodist Hospital, ya won't be having them problems with the files. I got all of them sorted out," Nick pointed to the row of file boxes towards the back of the room about fifty yards away. "Stay out of those boxes pole cat. Those are done and clean."

"Did you here that pole cat?" Joe questioned. His grin firmly in place.

Antoine growled. Nick snickered and had a coughing spell. Joe slapped the old coot on the back to help clear his lungs.

Nick waved his hands about the room, "On the left there is SFMC and on the right there is SMFC. We'll let pole cat find the SFMC, shouldn't be ta hard considering he only has ta find one piece of paper. Just go ta the left side, ya see that red line on the floor, cross it and don't step back." He motioned for Joe to follow him. "Ya and me are gonna find that other file, and while we're at it, just because I like ya. I'll tell ya more about Wilson."

Alex laid down on the doctor's exam table. She had her eyes closed and her teeth grinding away as Doctor Hyde moved his fingers over her rib cage on the left side. Lester and Bobby were standing outside the exam room. His nurse was at the foot of the table. Doctor Hyde looked up to his nurse. "Are the x-rays back from developing?"

"I can go check," she said.

"Go do that." Doctor Hyde pulled down the flimsy medical gown. "Tell Lester and Bobby they can come back in now."

She gave him a nod and left the room.

"Well?" Lester asked.

"I'll know as soon as we get the films back." He moved Alex's head straight, "Open those eyes." Alex opened her eyes and he checked the dilation.

"Sit up." Alex sat up and swung her legs so she was facing him, she could see Lester and Bobby had taken the other two seats in the room. She saw Dr. Hyde take the pen out of his pocket.

"I want you to follow the pen. Only focus on the pen." He started moving it, Alex watched as the pen went in every direction. He moved it behind her head on the right side. "Now tell me when you can see it, and keep your eyes forward, no cheating." Alex stopped him when she could see it. He then repeated the same process for the left side.

"When was the last time you had your eyes checked?" Dr. Hyde asked.

"Like at school?" Alex asked with her brow furrowing.

"No. A real optometrist." Dr. Hyde replied.

"I've never been to one." Alex said.

He turned to Lester, "Take her to Jacobs. I'll have Betty call and get her in today. I want that left eye examined."

"Told you she was weak on that side." Bobby said.

"What do you mean weak?" Alex asked.

Dr. Hyde turned back to her. "Not like what he means, your peripheral is off. I want to check and make sure it is not permanent." He touched her chin and moved her head to the right to look at the left eye. "How swollen did your eye get before this afternoon?"

"I don't remember, um…a couple of weeks ago it was swollen shut." Alex replied.

"A good reason to get it checked." Dr. Hyde moved over and pulled out two vials and a strip of rubber and the needle to take blood. "I need a blood sample. Then will check your films and you're done."

"No! No needles." Alex hopped down from the table and grabbed her shirt.

Bobby moved for the door and Lester went to Alex. This was the first time Lester had seen any real fear in her eyes. "Alex, it'll be okay."

"No needles." Alex told him.

Dr. Hyde moved over to her. "I really need your blood. I sent the dart off to toxicology, and I didn't like what came back. I really need to have your blood checked."

Blade sat in the beat up truck one block from Ranger's building on Haywood; he had spent most of the night here and switched vehicles two other times. He had seen the SUV leave and the binoculars he used saw three occupants inside. He noticed the heat signature of the smaller occupant sitting in the back. He smiled. He had found his target. Blade had three other places watched, but he was sure they would bring her back here. The building was well monitored.

He pulled out and followed at a safe distance. He turned down several streets and met back up with them at different intervals to make sure they didn't notice the tail. When he watched all three of them get out and go inside the medical clinic he smiled even more. Getting out of the truck he went to the SUV and pulled the picture out of his pocket. It was one of Alex when she was two years old, the black curls flowing from her head in ringlets. He made sure he kept the gloves he had on and then taped the picture to the passenger window.

Nabbing her now wouldn't be wise. He knew these two from his research were well versed in the art of combat and one in particular well versed in the art of stealth. Now the time was to play with his prey. Let her worry, let her start feeling the fear that would come, it may not be today, but one day, she would know it. The truck would have to be replaced and he drove off. He would pick up the trail another day, maybe a day when she wasn't surrounded and guarded so heavily.

"Soon precious, soon."


	33. Chapter 33

Lester was unsure of doing what Doctor Hyde wanted him to do. _Hold her down. He has to be kidding. _Lester thought.

"Just do it Lester." Doctor Hyde said.

Bobby was already holding Alex's feet while the nurse was trying to hold her shoulders down and Alex was getting the better of the woman nurse. Lester could hear Alex screaming. He went over to Alex and pushed her shoulders down on the table. The nurse grabbed her arm and Doctor Hyde started doing the tourniquet to get ready to draw her blood.

"I hate you!" Alex screamed.

Lester looked down in her dark blue eyes. "It'll all be over in just a few minutes Alex."

"Bite me." Alex growled. The tears started to flow out of her eyes.

"You want me too?" Lester asked.

Doctor Hyde chuckled. Bobby was laughing and in the process lost one of Alex's legs and she kicked and Bobby took a foot to the head.

"Hold her, I only need one more vial." Doctor Hyde told Bobby.

Alex looked up at Lester, "I hate you."

"No you don't." Lester told her. "You just hate what is happening." Lester saw Doctor Hyde pull the syringe loose, but the nurse let go too soon, and Alex's arm was free. Doctor Hyde grabbed her arm, the needle was still in it and the vial he just filled started dropping. Lester let go of one shoulder and leaned over and caught the vial before it dropped to the floor to shatter.

"Damn it, Betty. It's not often I have a fighter, you know not to let go." Doctor Hyde said.

"This can't be normal." Bobby said.

"More than you think, I've had full grown adults do this as well." Doctor Hyde said. He pulled out a needle and a bottle and filled the needle. The shot went in her arm as Betty took out the filling needle in her arm. Doctor Hyde let her arm go. "Stand back boys."

Alex came off the table and then dove for Lester. Lester went back into the wall with Alex, Lester bear hugged her and she screamed and hit him for a few minutes and then went slack in his arms. He picked her up and looked at Doctor Hyde. "Is there not a better way to do this?"

"If I would have known before hand, I would have given you something for her to take an hour before coming to me." He turned and looked at the films. "Good news, no breaks. Just bruising, keep her ribs taped up. You boys can go. I'll have Betty dress her and then you can take her."

Lester laid her down then followed Bobby out of the room. He rubbed his buzz cut after he came out and leaned against the wall. "I don't want to see her go through that again. That can't be healthy."

"I've never known anyone that terrified of a needle before." Bobby was rubbing the right side of his face. "Do I have shoe prints on my face?"

Lester started laughing, "I can even read the style of it off your face."

"Damn!" Bobby said. "I get to drive on the way back, you owe me, and you can take the hell cat."

"She's not a hell cat." Lester said.

"Yes she is." Bobby stated.

Doctor Hyde walked out and then turned Bobby's face so he could see the damage, "You'll live."

"How long is she going to be knocked out?" Lester asked.

"Just a few hours. I didn't give her anything that would keep her under longer than an hour or two." Doctor Hyde said, "It'll give you enough time to get her home and out of a vehicle so she doesn't do anything while you are on the road."

"Good for me." Bobby said.

Betty came out and Lester walked in and looked at Alex. _She looks like an angel while she's sleeping. _Lester thought. He ran the back of his hand across her cheek, and then he reached under her and scooped her up. He walked out of the clinic following Bobby. Bobby went around the passenger side of the SUV and stopped when he saw the picture taped on the window. He looked at the picture of the little girl with black curly hair. Lester watched Bobby, "Get some gloves on, get the picture and lets get out of here."

Bobby unlocked the back door and Lester climbed in with Alex. He went to the back while looking around not seeing anyone watching. Putting on the gloves he went back to the passenger side window and pulled the picture off. Bobby got into the driver side and laid the picture down, "The back of the picture has some writing. It says Alex two years old, July thirteenth, Ninety-three."

"Yes, she would still be two when that was taken. Get us back to headquarters now." Lester told him. Lester looked down at Alex in his arms. _Who has been taking pictures of you that young? This has to be Blade, but how did he get a hold of something about you that long ago? _Lester thought.

Lester pulled his cell phone out and called Ranger. "Did you see any pictures of Alex in the apartment when she was younger?"

"A few. Why?" Ranger asked.

"We were left a calling card on the SUV." Lester said.

"Get back to headquarters."

"We're on our way."

"What did Alex say about the picture?"

Lester looked down at her face, "She doesn't know. She hasn't seen it. Had a small complication seeing Doc and she was given something to go to sleep."

"I don't call kicking me in the face small Lester." Bobby said loudly.

"What happened?" Ranger asked.

"Alex is petrified of needles. I don't mean a slight fear of them either, I mean she'll fight for all she's worth not to have them touch her." Lester told him.

"Good to know." Ranger said. "We are on the way to see the feds. Make sure they don't take her DNA blood wise."

"I'll make sure of it." Lester said. Ranger hung up, Lester closed his phone.

Stephanie kept looking at Ranger while he was talking on the phone. Tank and Lula were in the back seat of the SUV that Ranger was driving. Stephanie pounced when Ranger hung up the phone.

"What picture? Why would they want her DNA blood wise?" Stephanie asked.

"I don't know what the picture is Babe." Ranger looked over to her. "Alex is afraid of needles. So giving DNA that way will be a bad thing."

Stephanie watched as Ranger pulled up to a coded gate and reached into his back pocket for his wallet and then slid a card down into the reader.

"Where are we?" Stephanie asked.

"Federal property outside of Trenton." Ranger said as he put the card back in his wallet and waited for the gate to open.

"Why do you have a card for the gate?" Stephanie asked.

Ranger turned and smiled at her. "If I tell you, I'd have to kill you."

Joe took off the sports jacket he had on and laid it aside. He wiped the sweat that had gathered on his forehead off and then pulled out another box. He had gone through one already as well as Nick.

Nick looked over to him. "Don't understand why Wilson did all of this. Last I heard he went into the Navy himself after he left here not long after."

"Wilson worked here through Ninety-three then?" Joe asked. His fingers kept flipping through the papers. He pulled one of the pages out and looked at it, it had SFMC on it. He handed it over to Nick. "Wrong side."

Nick took it and shook his head. "Dawg gum, I thought I'd already had all them on the other side. Tar nation I'm losing my mind with all this here mess. Yeah, leather worked through Ninety-three and then after I found the mess of the files he left I was good as happy ta be gone with him."

"I can imagine you would be." Joe replied.

"His devil filly came up one day. An' leather showed me his pup. I took one look at that lil pup and knew as I'm stand'n here that it weren't his. This lil ole pup had mass of curly black hair." Nick stopped and Joe looked at him as he looked at the paper he was holding. "Here's one." He handed the sheet to Joe.

Joe took the page and looked at page twelve of seventeen. It showed that the baby weighed a little over four and half pounds and was sent to the intensive care unit for oxygen. Notes on the page said the lungs were slightly underdeveloped and extra time in the unit was called for while the mother was recovering from abnormal blood loss.

"So Wilson had the child with him. What did his filly look like? Do you know her name?" Joe asked.

"Devil whore of a thing. She handed me the lil pup while she and leather went off a way ta go have a talk. I knows he called her Vicky, other than that he was a holler'n and call'n her all other things. He was fume'n that she weren't in the place he done tol' her ta be. Some'um about watch'n some other filly. Never did catch that name, the lil pup in me arms started a wail'n about then. I got the pup ta calm down and then leather done tol' Vicky she wasn't supposed ta mess with the other filly. Leather said he was gonna take care of her. Some'um about Vicky would just fuck it all up and blow hole didn't need ta find out. He said some'um about blow hole not get'n the lil pup ever."

Joe had stopped looking through the box and just stared at Nick. "Who's blow hole? Did Wilson ever give you a name?"

"Nah, Wilson never did give me a name. If he ain't blow hole he's Navy. Blow hole was in the Navy at this time." Nick turned to look at Joe. "I don't think Navy knew at all he had a pup runn'n around. Leather was madder'n hell at Navy and kept his pup."

"You didn't bother to call the police?" Joe asked.

"I done call the police. Leather never showed back up ta work after that. I gave them what I knew about Leather and said Wilson wasn't live'n where I said he was. Well, I drove over there, it wasn't noth'n but a storage building." Nick went back to the box. "I only feel sorry for that lil pup. It ain't fitt'n ta raise a pup away from the parents like that."

Joe went back to the box he was working on and found another sheet to go with the files. His cell phone buzzed every few minutes and he kept checking to see who was calling. He was avoiding calls from his family; he saw the one from his lawyer's office and answered it.

"You have an hour to get to St. Francis. I've already called Alex's lawyer as well. Dr. Mitchell is expecting you and Alex to submit your DNA; he'll have it in the labs. The papers are filed for pulling the mother's DNA as well. We just got the body before it left the viewing to be placed in the ground."

"Good. I'm on my way then." Joe said. He hung up the phone and turned to Nick. "Nick, I need to leave. I have someplace to be. How much longer are you going to be here?"

"Well now, that's just it. I only have an hour left. I leave at four. Leave the pole cat with me, I'll keep him a busy until I leave and send what I have a found with him. You come back when the cock crows in the morn' and we'll find the rest of this here file." Nick said.

"When the cock crows." Joe gave him a smile, "I'll see you then."


	34. Chapter 34

Ranger didn't say anything as he parked the SUV in the garage and then led Tank, Stephanie, and Lula into the building that was connected to it. He swiped his card here and there at different intervals. Then he swiped it one last time for a room which they entered. At the end of the room stood a woman, her brown hair laid straight just past her shoulders. The grey dress suit looked as if it was cut and made for her body only.

"Bella, I see you've made it from Italy. How was the plane ride?" Ranger asked.

She turned and Ranger could see the smile that lit her well tanned faced all the way to her deep brown eyes. "It was lovely." She said in a thick Florentine accent. "But, I am so glad to be back on home soil. How ever am I going to repay you?"

"Who is she?" Lula asked.

Ranger looked at Lula, "This is Agent Bella Monique di Betto Bardi. She's been in Florence, Italy for the last six years living in the Shiropolli household undercover."

Stephanie pulled on Ranger's arm and he turned to her. "What Babe?"

"Exactly what do you do with the FBI, Ranger? How do you even know her?" Stephanie asked.

Ranger could see Stephanie was biting back even more questions. "Babe, I can't tell you what I do for the FBI. I've known Bella all my life."

Bella walked around the conference table that was in the middle of the room. "You don't need to worry about me." She said as she came closer to the group. "I owe Carlos for helping me retire out of the FBI early. I loved Florence, but living away from home was hard. My family is here."

"Babe, Bella is my mother's god daughter. Her mother and my mother went to school together. Bella is like a sister to me." Ranger told her. "She hasn't been able to contact very many people while she's been undercover in Italy. Her contact placed a call to me and told me she wanted to come home."

Stephanie was looking from one to the other. Ranger could see her trying to take all of this in. "I thought you said we were going to be debriefed today. Is she doing the debriefing?"

Ranger laughed. "Hardly. No. Tank and I will be debriefing you and Lula. At the same time, Bella will also be debriefed. I have to record everything for the record. We shouldn't be here for no more than an hour or so. Then Bella will be given a place to stay at RangeMan for the next six months to a year, while RangeMan helps her assimilate back into our society."

Stephanie answered the questions that Ranger and Tank had given her along with Lula. They were both now sitting in chairs outside of the room waiting on Ranger and Tank to finish up with Bella. Stephanie twisted around in her seat; she was ready to leave.

"Wonder why she has to live with Ranger and my man? I don't think this assimilating thing sounds right." Lula said.

"Are you jealous?" Stephanie asked Lula. _At least I'm not the only one. She's exotic with that accent. And Ranger calls her by her first name, he said she was like a sister to him, so that makes things a little better. _Stephanie thought.

Lula huffed, "No! What do I have to be jealous for? It's you who should really worry. Tank is my man, and we've been talking about getting a place together. I don't see Ranger and you talking about getting a place together."

"It's only for a short time and she'll be staying at RangeMan. It's not like she's going to be staying in Ranger's apartment." Stephanie looked at Lula, "She wouldn't, would she?"

"Girl! He said she was practically like a sister to him. I've known several god siblings to get together and stay together. If I was you, I'd be moving out of that cardboard box that anyone can break into and move in with Ranger. I've got a mind of moving in with Tank. I didn't like the way she was looking at him, but I'm not jealous, not jealous at all. I satisfy my man, I know how to do those things and do them good." Lula said.

_Ranger wouldn't move her into his apartment? She's like a sister to him, that's what he said. But would he let his sister stay with him? He does have a spare room, and no one is staying in it. I could go home and get Rex and move Rex into the spare room. He'd have like his own little hamster room at Ranger's apartment. Then I could stay with Ranger and she wouldn't be in the spare bedroom. _Stephanie thought. The door next to them opened up and Ranger and Tank walked out.

"Do we get to leave now?" Stephanie asked.

Ranger said, "Yeah, Babe. As soon as Bella gets her bag. We are taking her back with us."

"Where is she staying at RangeMan?" Stephanie asked.

"Alex is in the last spare room I have at the moment. So she'll be staying in my spare bedroom at least for the rest of the week. Why?" Ranger reached for her hand and pulled her to him and then whispered into her ear. "Are you jealous?"

Lester walked back down the hall towards the small apartment that Alex was staying in. He knocked on the door, when she didn't answer he opened it up. They had been back from seeing Dr. Hyde for about thirty minutes now and he laid Alex on the bed to finish sleeping off the drug Dr. Hyde gave her. But, her lawyer called and now it was time for her to go get her DNA pulled. Bobby was on the phone with Jacobs trying to reschedule the optometrist appointment now to in the morning. Today would have been good, but the DNA test had to come first. Lester walked around the couch and then through the bedroom door that was left open and stopped short of the bed. Alex was still sleeping, but not on her back like he had left her, and she had rolled over onto her stomach. Her hair wasn't in the tight ponytail he was used to seeing. The more he looked at her, the angrier he was becoming. Her hair was now ringlets of curls that touched just past her shoulders.

_Two feet, she's missing at least two feet of hair off her head. I loved how long her hair had been, not that she doesn't look bad like this either, but the time it took to grow it that long. _Lester thought. He turned and stalked out of the bedroom. _She's not awake. Someone came in and did this. Damn! Alex please don't hate me, I didn't know this was going to happen? She's going to be so damn fucking pissed._

Lester shut the door to her room, Bobby walked up.

"She has an appointment tomorrow afternoon. Couldn't get it for the morning." Bobby said. "What's wrong?"

Lester glared and moved around Bobby. "Stay by her door and don't let anyone in there."

"Lester what is it?" Bobby asked. "Did something happen to Alex?"

"Yes. Don't let anyone in her room. I have to check the tapes in the control room." Lester told him as he stalked to the stairwell door and then took the stairs to the floor he needed. Lester barged into the control room.

"Zero, I need the tape to the fourth floor run over again right now within the last thirty minutes." Lester growled out.

Lester watched as Zero pressed the rewind button for the fourth floor. He watched the people walking backwards and saw when Alex's door was opened and closed then opened and closed yet again.

"Stop. Go forward at normal speed." Lester told him.

Lester ground his teeth at the figure punching the pass code on the key pad panel beside the door to Alex's room. He watched him go in stay for five minutes then walk back out. Lester's chest was heaving, his jaw ground back and forth as his fists clenched opened and closed.

"That's all I needed." Lester told Zero and then stepped out of the control room.

_I'm going to kill him. He is so dead, so fucking dead. He messed up one too many times, _Lester thought. Lester went back to the fourth floor and saw Bobby leaning against Alex's door.

"Well?" Bobby asked.

"I'm going to kill him." Lester growled out. He took the receiver off his wrist and handed it to Bobby. "Take her to get her DNA checked." Lester pulled out the paper that was in his pocket with the directions and handed it to Bobby. "Hal has messed up for the last time. I'm going to kill him."

"What did he do?" Bobby asked and looked to the door he was leaning on. "Did he do something stupid because she broke his nose? What exactly did he do?"

"She's not going to be happy when she wakes up. He cut off two feet of her hair. It doesn't look bad, but the years it took to grow it that length." Lester growled out. "I'm too angry to take her to get the DNA test done."

Bobby looked back at the door. "Okay, I'll take her, but if she hurts me, because of something Hal did." Bobby shook his head. "Never mind, I'll deal with her."

Lester left Bobby as he went into the room with Alex. Lester went down into the garage and looked to see if any of the SUVs were gone and noticed only one. He walked across the street and into another underground parking area and got inside his personal vehicle and then called the control room and got a lead on where Hal was. As soon as he knew where he was, Lester pulled out of the parking garage in his black 65' Sting Ray Coupe. He dialed Ranger.

"Yo." Ranger answered.

"You better pray you find Hal before I do. I'm going to murder his ass this time." Lester said and hung up his phone and turned it off.

Joe sat in his SUV behind the cars in traffic. He shook his head at seeing the lights for the last two blocks had lost power. He turned his wrist and looked at his watch, he was going to be late for the testing. Joe inched forward along with the rest of the populace in Trenton. His aggravation growing.

_I don't have time for this. Think of something else. Wilson worked for the offsite storage facility during the years before Alex was born and after she was born. He moved the files around creating havoc for hiding records. Nick said Wilson had a devil woman named Vicky and a baby that wasn't his. Black curly mop of hair. Alex has black hair. Could Alex be the baby that Nick had seen? Very good possibility. _Joe thought as he inched forward till he came to the busted light. He could see that one of the police officers had arrived and was now directing traffic. Joe pulled out when it was his turn and went forward again. The traffic was thinning out now.

_Alex. Alex has to be the connection? Or is someone else the connection? What if Alex is just the product? Vicky? Vicky who? Alex's mother. Shit I'm stupid. Victoria Lacey Ramono. Wilson was seeing the woman who claims to be Alex's mother. Wilson had to have signed my name. Wilson, I need to find out who this person is._ Joe thought.

His phone rang and he checked the readout before he answered it. "What do you have for me Kirkpatrick?"

"The handwriting is in the system. But," Joe heard the long pause.

"But what?" Joe growled out.

"I'm denied access. Confidential. Access denied, denied, denied. I've tried everything. Even called an expert in the FBI for a favor, he can usually tap into these things. His access is denied."

Joe hit the steering wheel. "That is not what I wanted to hear." He growled out. "Thanks for trying." Joe hung up as he pulled into the hospital parking lot.

Seeing the empty black SUV that he knew was one of Ranger's he pulled up beside it and was about to park when he saw Bobby flying past the front of the SUV into his spot. Joe hit the brakes. His heart skipped in his chest. He breathed out a sigh when he saw Bobby stand as he glared in front of the SUV at someone. Joe glanced over at the person and clutched the steering wheel.

_Sarah! No that can't be Sarah, Sarah is dead. Sarah's hair isn't black, Sarah had light brown hair. _Joe thought. He fumbled with the gear shift as he saw Bobby going back towards her. Joe blinked and shook his head, his stomach started rolling, and he could feel a knot as it lodged in his throat. His heart started pounding in his chest and he felt the drum beats in his ears. Then he saw her collapse on the ground as she dug into her left calf. Joe put the SUV in park and opened his door. The scream filled his ears.

"What the hell Brown?" Joe asked as he ran around his door and the SUV and knelt down beside her. "Turn the damn thing off."

Alex stopped screaming, and Joe picked up her left leg. He rubbed the muscles and glared at Bobby.

"Alex had a fit when she saw her hair and woke up from the sleeping drugs Dr. Hyde gave her. I was trying to get her to calm down. I didn't know she was going to kick me into oblivion where I'd almost be road kill." Bobby stated.

Joe looked back down at Alex. _She looks so much like Sarah. Why didn't I see this before? Her hair was straight with it that long. Alex has to be Sarah's child. _Joe thought.

"Who cut her hair?" He asked as he kept rubbing her leg, he could see the tears rolling out of her eyes.

"Fucking Hal did it. I broke his nose then he cut my hair. We were only supposed to be sparring, not kicking me in the ribs like he did." Alex got out between sobs.

Joe looked up at Bobby. "Are her ribs broke?"

"No. Just bruised. Lester went to go take care of Hal." Bobby told him.

Joe looked back down at Alex. He moved his right hand and wiped the tears off of her cheeks. "Do you think you can stand up now?" Joe looked over her face, her nose was like Sarah's, her eyes, and her lips as well. Joe took her hand when she nodded and stood up and pulled her up with him.

_She is Sarah's. I can see it. If? _Joe thought then he closed his eyes and opened them. He moved his hand under her chin and tilted her face up so he could look into her eyes better. _If she is Sarah's? _The knot came back into his throat as he kept looking at her. He saw her look down and then step away.

"Thank you," Alex said and stepped around Joe.

Alex moved around a car to put space between Bobby and herself. She glanced back at Joe who now was following her slowly still looking at her with that intent look. _He knows something? Why does he keep looking at me like that? Like I'm someone else that he hasn't seen in long time. _Alex thought.

She stopped and looked back at him. "What? It's my hair isn't it?"

"No." Joe said.

"Then what? If it isn't my hair, then who do I remind you of?" Alex asked as she crossed her hands in front of her chest.

Joe walked up to her and tilted her face to look back up to his. "Your mother. I need to find the rest of your birth certificate. If she is on your real birth certificate then…."

_What is he not saying? _Alex thought. "Then what?"

She felt his thumb rub across her chin. "Then I'm your father."


	35. Chapter 35

Lester was driving to the location he had gotten from the control room. His mind was going over the things he wanted to do to Hal the moment he got a hold of him.

_Castration? Too good for him. Mutilation? Nah, I'm not that sadistic. His nose would have healed in a few weeks. Two feet of her hair! Two feet! He did it when she was totally defenseless. _Lester thought.

Lester heard the guitar strums and the screaming of Axel Rose, the drums kicked in and then Axel started singing. When he heard I wanna watch you bleed. His foot pushed further down on the accelerator. The song filled the need of the raging beast that was pacing back and forth like a caged animal within his chest.

_I'm gonna watch you bleed. Watch it flow out of your veins. I know where he is, he's in the jungle and he's going to die. _Lester thought as he took a corner fast as the car hugged the corner. His foot eased off the gas only long enough to move around another car and then the song blared out inside the car. Fear Factor, Demanufacture hunter-killer only fed the beast raging inside Lester even more.

_I'm your judge, and your jury, you don't get an attorney, with my verdict of guilty, an execution in fury._ Lester thought that one part of the song over and over in his head as he pulled into the parking lot of Quaker Bridge Mall. Lester scanned the parking lot looking for the SUV. He saw the SUV and pulled in beside it. Lester got out of his car and locked it up. He set the alarm and then headed into the mall. _He can run but he can't hide._

His head scanned left and right for Hal as he stalked down through the mall. Lester spotted Hal sitting at one of the tables in the middle of the food court. He strode over and grabbed Hal by the front of his shirt.

"She was fucking defenseless." Lester said as he pulled Hal out of the chair and shoved him back and letting go.

"Lester, I…"

Lester let his right hand come out into a ridge hand and caught Hal on the left side of his face connecting with the right inner part of Lester's right hand. Hal moved to block but he was too late and only managed to knock Lester's hand away. Lester drew his hand back and spun around bringing his right hand up to protect himself as he drove his right foot into Hal's chest with a rear spinning side kick. Hal went back and went over the chair that was behind him.

The tables that were around them cleared out fast. People backed up. Some cheered, some just watching at the horror of two men fighting in the middle of the food court.

"Kick him in the balls." Yelled a teenager with blue and purple hair and dressed in black with a silver loop belt holding up his already sagging pants.

"Totally righteous destruction! Go for blood!" Yelled the blue and purple haired male who was the teenager's female counter part. She had silver and blue hair with a nose ring that had a big silver hoop in it.

Lester strode three steps and reached down and picked up Hal before he had a chance to stand up. He yanked him to his feet and stepped into a back stance and brought his left fist back and swung a back fist to Hal's head and with his right fist he brought it forward with the same force and he blocked the punch Hal threw. Double fist strike block worked like it always did for Lester, he loved that move. The snarl more poignant on his upper lip as he glared at Hal.

Hal spun and sent a back fist at Lester's head and caught him over his left eye. The ring on Hal's finger dug into the skin over Lester's eye. Lester growled as he felt the ring open his eye.

"First blood!" Yelled the female Goth teenager.

"Jeez. Can't you do any better than that?" Yelled the male standing beside her. "Get him damn it."

"Do unto others," the male Goth teenager said.

"As they do unto you," the female Goth teenager finished the quote.

"Anarchy!" they yelled together, banging their heads to the invisible beat of a drum.

Lester pushed off with his back foot and brought it up with his right foot as he kicked out and caught Hal in the chest. Hal doubled over with the pain. Lester grabbed the back of his head grabbing part of Hal's shirt in the process and drove his left knee up into Hal's head. He pulled him back and then drove the same knee into his chest again, and again on the same side.

"You don't fucking mess with someone I care about." Lester told him. Lester released him. While Hal was bent over Lester pushed off from the ground one more time and kicked Hal in the chest. Hal went back and landed on a table which collapsed under his weight and sheer force of momentum.

"Anarchy!" Shouted both the Goth teenagers again.

Hal grabbed the chair that was closest to him and Lester felt the chair hit the left side of his shoulder as Hal swung it at him as he reached down to pull Hal up again. Lester felt someone pull him back and swing him around away from Hal. He turned and saw the Mall security officer; Lester swung his right fist and hit the security guard right in the face releasing his hold.

"Beat the cop! Beat the cop!" Yelled the Goth male teenager.

"Lawlessness rules!" Yelled the Goth female teenager.

Ranger had dialed Lester's number over and over again while Tank was on the phone tracking where they were.

"He's shut off his phone." Ranger said. "Maldígalo. ¿Lester, qué la cogida? Maldígala, cogiendo mierda." (Damn him. Lester, what the fuck? Damn it, fucking shit.)

Tank turned to look at Ranger, "Quaker Bridge Mall. Lester got the information a few minutes before we did."

Ranger had sped all the way to the mall. He parked right by the door and got out. Tank was right after him along with Lula, Stephanie, and Bella. All five of them ran down the Mall. Ranger in the lead, he heard the fight going before he saw anything. He pushed his way through the crowd as he saw Lester throwing the security officer and Hal was standing up holding his ribs. He saw Lester turn and kick Hal back in the chest. Hal flew back and rolled over spitting out blood and trying to get air. Ranger dove for Lester, Tank went after Hal.

Ranger felt Lester's arm as he shoved him aside. _Shit, he's out of control. He's lost it. What the fuck happened? _Ranger thought.

"Men in black rule! Anarchy rules!" Yelled the Goth male teen.

"Men in black! Men in black!" Yelled the Goth female teen. "Fight, fight, fight."

Ranger shook his head, he had looked over to Stephanie and Lula, and both of them were laughing at what the two teenagers just shouted. Ranger looked at the two teens. "Shut the fuck up!"

Ranger went back for Lester and bear hugged him from behind. "Lester, stop this shit now!" He saw Bella step in between Lester as he went back for Hal and Lester swung back to pull Ranger off his back and Bella got hit in the process.

"Beat the man in black! Beat the man in black!" Yelled the Goth male teen.

Ranger went over Lester's shoulder and on the floor. Ranger reached out for Lester's legs and yanked him off balance and he went to the floor. "Tank! Forget Hal. Stun Lester's ass, now!"

He saw Lester go slack.

"Beat the man in…"

That was the last thing said as Ranger stood up and looked at the two teens that had turned and tried to get away through the crowd.

"Run away you little dickheads." Ranger told them.

Alex's heart started racing. _Oh God! Then I'm not who I am, I'm not even Alex anymore? _Alex thought. The feeling of fleeing rushed over her, she felt the overwhelming desire of getting away. Anywhere. It didn't matter, as long as she put space between everyone and herself. She backed away from Joe.

"Alex, it'll be okay." Joe said.

_No it won't. I'm not me anymore._ Alex thought as she backed faster away from him.

Joe reached out for her, "Come here."

"No." Alex told him. She watched as Joe took a step. Alex turned her head and looked for the first escape route she could take. She saw Joe's SUV door still open, he didn't shut it. She looked back at Joe.

"Alex, we have to have our DNA tested. Come on. You can do this. I need to know if your mine, Alex please." Joe said.

"What then?" Alex asked as she backed up to where she was closer to Joe's truck towards the driver's side. "I won't be me anymore. I won't know who the fuck I am. I never asked for any of this shit." Alex turned and ran around Joe's driver's door to his SUV and jumped inside shutting the door and hitting the locks. She saw the keys hanging in the ignition and started the SUV.

"Shit! Alex, no!" Joe ran towards his truck just as Alex pulled out and almost hitting the car that was coming down the parking lane to find a place.

Alex stopped just in time and threw the car in gear and took off.

Joe saw Bobby going for the thing around his wrist again, Joe dove for it. "Don't turn that on and juice her you idiot. She'll wreck. I'll kill you if anything happens to her, give it here." Joe growled at him.

Bobby took the receiver off his wrist. "You can't track her from here. Only through the control room." He tossed the receiver to Joe. "It's off, I didn't get a chance to turn it back on."

Joe grabbed it and shoved it in his pocket. "Give me your keys. I'm commandeering your vehicle and your phone."

"Damn Morelli, don't do this." Bobby said.

"Now." Joe told him, "Or I'll bust your ass for something Brown."

"Shit!" Bobby handed over the keys to the SUV and his phone. "I want it back."

"You'll get it back; go get the swab kit from the doctor. If he won't give it to you think of something." Joe ran to the SUV and got inside. He started it up then dialed his cell phone that he had tossed on the passenger seat.

_Come on Alex, answer my phone. Come on!_ Joe thought. Joe pulled out of the parking lot and saw his SUV up ahead about three blocks and losing him. He put his foot down on the gas to follow her. Joe looked at the gas gauge on the SUV almost a full tank. He smiled, he only had a quarter of a tank of gas. He hung up the phone and dialed again.

Alex heard the phone and picked it up. She looked at the number and the name, she read Angie Morelli and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Who is this? Where is my Joseph?" Mrs. Morelli asked.

"Uh…Joseph is at the hospital." Alex said. "Who are you?"

"Don't sass me, tell me who this is. I'm Joseph's mother. Why would my Joey be in the hospital?"

Alex pulled the phone away from her ear and read the name again and then stopped at the light. "I didn't say in the hospital, I said at the hospital. I'm no one."

_I can't tell her who I am. I don't know who I am. _Alex thought.

"No one. Smart mouth. A no one wouldn't be allowed near my Joseph's phone. Now tell me your name." Demanded Mrs. Morelli.

"No!" Alex hung up the phone. _What a bitch for a mother! Damn! _Alex thought. She started going again as the light turned green. Alex reached for the dial on the radio and turned it on.

"Ugh! What is this shit?" Alex looked at the dial and groaned. "I can't believe he listens to this." Alex saw that a cd was in and popped it out. The phone rang again and Alex looked at the readout. Bobby Brown, "Don't want to talk to you?"

Alex turned down the next street and then pulled out the cd and read the name on it, Buddy Holly. "Yuck, some old fart. God what a sick taste in music. He can't be my father, I'd die if I had to listen to this shit." Alex rolled down the window and tossed the cd out on the road. "No more Holly." She laughed. "Die Holly, die."

The phone rang again and she saw the same Morelli name again. "No way grandma! You are way too bitchy."

Alex turned on the radio, the oldies were playing. She looked at the radio and then found an alternative rock station. When the phone rang again she looked at the readout. It said, Stephanie Plum. Alex answered the phone.

"Morelli's mortuary, you stab 'em we slab 'em." Alex answered.

Alex heard a snort on the other end. "Um…Where's Joe? I need to talk to Joe. This was an improvement from the normal uh, I normally get." Stephanie laughed.

"At the hospital." Alex told Stephanie. "He sort of can't come to the phone. Where are you?"

"I'm at the mall watching Lester being cuffed. He's going to jail; I was trying to call Joe to see if we can get him out since he's supposed to be with you until your court hearing." Stephanie told her.

_To jail! _Alex thought and pulled over the SUV. _No, no, no. Bobby said he went to pay Hal back. Please don't have killed him; I don't trust Bobby or Joe like I do Lester. _

"What did he do?" Alex asked as she choked back the lump that was starting to form in her throat.

"He beat the shit out of Hal; they rushed him to the hospital. Collapsed lung that we know of so far. Hal isn't the one pressing the charges so far, it's a mall cop who is. I really need to talk to Joe. Which hospital?" Stephanie asked.

"I don't know. I just got in Joe's SUV and took off, he left the door open and his phone was on the passenger seat. He's with Bobby." Alex said. Alex leaned her head on the steering wheel. "I don't want Lester to go to jail."

Joe saw his SUV was pulled over on the side of the road. He stopped Ranger's SUV and got out and ran over to his driver's door. He saw Alex had her head on the steering wheel, he opened the door.

_My stomach is a mess already; she's going to drive me insane. I can't help what is happened to her already. God I want to make this right for her. _Joe thought.

"Alex? Are you okay?" Joe asked her.

He saw Alex hand his phone to him, "Talk to Steph."

_What happened? I don't like that hurt sound to her voice. _Joe thought.

He took the phone. "What is it Stephanie?" He asked. He listened as Stephanie filled him in on the details of what transpired at the mall. Joe leaned on the truck's driver's door as he kept his eyes on Alex. "I'll see, I can't promise anything. Yet."

Joe hung up the phone. "Hey, look at me, Alex."

Alex lifted her head off the steering wheel, he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. _Son of Bitch! She likes him, either that or…shit I'm not going there._ Joe thought. _If she's mine there is no way I'll let him be with her now, she's too young. Think Joe, get her back where she needs to be right now._

"I'll get Santos out of jail, as long as you come back with me for the DNA test. Do we have a deal?" Joe asked.


	36. Chapter 36

Tank rode in the ambulance with Hal. He listened as the emergency crew worked on him.

"I've got him stable, barely." The main EMT said. "Get us there quick."

The other EMT started writing things on the chart. "Anything else I need to add to this?" He asked.

Tank looked at Hal, he didn't look well, didn't look well at all. He could tell that it looked like his collar bone was broken, his shoulder sat at an odd angle.

"Collapsed lung, broken collar bone, broken ribs on the left side, same side as the collapsed lung. Finish writing his vitals and we'll drop him off." The main EMT said. He looked over to Tank, "Your buddy here might live, I've seen worse, he'll be in the hospital for a good week at least."

Tank gave a nod. _I'll have to call Ranger as soon as I get out of this ambulance. Hal, I don't know what you did, but I don't think you'll be able to be in our group now. What did you do to set Lester off that bad? I've never seen Lester in a fit of angry passion like that before, well, other than when we lost Steven. _Tank thought.

When the ambulance stopped Tank got out and went to the other side of the building so he could make the call.

"Yo." Ranger answered.

"We're at the hospital; they got him stabilized in the ambulance. I think he'll live. He's in pretty bad shape though." Tank told him.

"I got a cab for Lula and Bella, they went to headquarters. Stephanie is with me, we are at the police station. Morelli had Bobby's phone, Bobby called me when he got it back. Hal went in the room that Alex was in while she was knocked out and cut two feet of her hair off."

"Shit, she was defenseless."

"Exactly, I can't have someone on my team who'll take advantage of someone who can't fight back. And not over a broken nose. I can't have that risk."

Tank looked over to the emergency room doors. "What do you want me to do?"

"Stay there for right now, get the paperwork filled out, Bobby is on his way to where you are. Morelli is bringing Alex with him."

"Will do." Tank said.

_I had to agree, I couldn't let Lester go to jail because of me. If Joe can get him out, then, then maybe I can trust him. _Alex thought. She stopped walking when they got to Joe's SUV. He hit the remote to unlock the doors. Alex was staring at the picture that was taped to the passenger side window. It was a woman who had curly light brown hair that looked so much like her own curly head. The woman was holding a baby in her lap, a very tiny baby that had a head of black curls.

She felt Joe come up behind her and placed his hand on her right shoulder. "Who is that?" She asked him.

"Sarah." Joe answered. Alex could hear the strain in his voice. "I need to get this back to the station and see if I can process it for prints. Don't touch the picture."

She watched as Joe went to the back of his SUV and opened the back up and came back with gloves on and pulled the picture off the window. He turned it over and Alex looked over his arm to read the back as well. _Mine, both of them mine. July 19, 1991._

_Sarah? Is that who he thinks is my mother? Ninety-one? I was born in Ninety. _Alex thought. "Is that?"

She saw Joe look at her. "Yes, I'm fairly sure she's your mother."

Alex shook her head, "Can't be, I'm going on sixteen. My birthday is in December."

Joe placed the picture in a bag and pulled off the gloves. He opened the passenger door. "Get in Kitten. We'll talk about this on the way to get Santos out of jail."

_Someone is toying with me. The picture was taken almost fifteen years to the date. Eight days away. I used to call Sarah Kitty-Cat, she would purr when I kissed her neck in the right places and nibbled in others. I couldn't help but call Alex, Kitten. _Joe thought as he waited for her to get in.

She looked back at Joe as she got in and sat down in the seat. "Kitten?"

Joe smiled at the perplexed look on her face. "Yeah, Kitten. It fits you." He shut the door and walked around to his side.

He started the SUV and music blared out of the speakers. He turned the radio down but still heard the words. _You're going to need a body bag, I'll break bones you didn't know you had, when I'm done there will be nothing left of you, for your friends to hold on to, when they find you cold and blue tonight, faced down in a parking lot. _Joe turned and saw Alex bouncing her head with the music. "You like this song?"

"Yeah, it's a good one. Bodybag, by Hit The Lights." Alex kept bouncing her head to the beat of the music.

"Where's my Buddy Holly cd that was in the player?" Joe asked. He saw her turn and look out the window. "What did you do with my cd?"

"Buddy Holly is dead, his music is dead, and the cd is probably dead now too." Alex said not turning to look at him.

_Dead? I'm listening to some guy sing about killing someone, and Kitten likes this stuff. _Joe thought. "How dead is my cd? Dead where?" He asked as he pulled out of the parking space and started driving towards the police station. "Put your seatbelt on."

He saw her reach up and grabbed the seat belt then buckled herself in. "Dead on the road somewhere. I don't know what street I was on when I tossed it out the window. Am I almost sixteen or what?"

Joe looked at her. "I think you'll be turning fifteen instead of being fifteen already. As soon as I find the rest of your birth record, I can tell you for sure. What is wrong with Buddy Holly?"

"He's dead, his music is not all that great. He's an old fart." Alex turned in her seat to look at him. "So you think I'm fourteen?"

He could hear the panic tone in her voice. "Kitten, I started going out with Sarah at Homecoming in my senior year. She went missing over the Christmas Holiday's. I've counted the months out, July is right." Joe looked over at her. "You'll be fifteen this year, not sixteen."

"Urgh," Alex growled out and sat back in her seat and crossed her arms across her chest. "This is if I am her daughter and not some other woman's daughter. My life totally sucks." She looked out the window.

"Life sucks in general Kitten. Shit happens." Joe said as he turned the corner to the road the station was on. "I can't change what happened, but I can sure find out what all happened. Give me that chance. It's not just you that is affected by this," He looked over to her, "Or did you forget about me already in this my life totally sucks?"

He saw Alex turn to look at him; she didn't have the scowl on her face from before now her lower lip was pouting out. _Jesus! She's swinging from one emotion to the next. I hated the hormonal teenage years. And my life was pretty fucking normal. _Joe thought.

"I…I…well at least you know who you are. You grew up with your family. I didn't have that luxury." Alex said.

"I'll give you that one. Point well made, but don't toss me to the side as if this doesn't affect me. If I would have known, don't you think I would have come for you?" Joe said as he pulled into the police station parking lot. "If I would have known, you would have been with me all long. You wouldn't have had the life you had." Joe pulled into the employee section of the parking lot and parked his SUV. "I'll tell you who you are, just give me the time to piece this all together, and then I'll give you all the answers you need, I promise."

_Come on Alex, toss me a bone here. I can see it in your eyes how much you need this. How much you really need to learn to trust someone who isn't going to take advantage of you. _Joe thought as he waited on her answer.

"Alright, you have till the judge places me anyway." Alex said and opened the door and got out of the SUV.

Joe breathed a small sigh and got out. _Small victory there, but I'll take it. _Joe thought. He led them into the back door of the station and guided her all the way inside towards his desk. He felt her snicker at seeing the balloons, his hand was on her shoulder leading her in. "Don't say anything. It'll be gone soon." Joe told her. He pointed to his chair. "Have a seat, don't touch anything."

Antoine pulled off the headphones he had on. "I think you should see this, I ran the other prints I found."

Joe walked around to Antoine's desk and picked up the file he had. It was a cold case file, of an infant that was found in January of Ninety-One. It had been left open because the infant had been unknown. The autopsy report had read death was due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The prints matched the birth record for Caitlyn Alexandria Ramono who was born on December 7, 1990; the baby had lived for only a week. Joe looked over at Alex. She was reading the notes under the gifts he hadn't put away. She had a devilish smile on her face. He shook his head.

"One solved. One to go." Joe said and gave Antoine the file back. "Write it up so we can close the case out."

Alex picked up the toy gun that was loaded with the plastic dart and was pointing it at things. "One what solved?"

"Never mind you, I'll fill you in when I have all the pieces. You've learned enough for today, don't you think?" Joe asked.

He saw Alex aim the toy gun at him, "Have I?"

Antoine looked at her, "Are you going to shoot that thing?" He asked.

Joe saw her aim it at Antoine then.

"I wasn't talking to you Creole." Alex pulled the trigger of the gun and the dart flew and hit him in the forehead.

Joe laughed, "You need to behave. I said don't touch anything."

Antoine grabbed the dart that was now lying on his desk after it had bounced off his head. "Yeah, sit over there and behave."

Alex put the toy gun down. "You should know I never listen."

"I see that. We'll have to work on that." Joe told her.

Lester was pacing the cell he was in. They took his boots from him; they wouldn't let him have them because of the steel toes. So he was pacing barefoot, they wouldn't allow the socks either. They took his belt, and everything he had in his pockets. It was nice and neatly bagged in three large manila envelopes locked up tight in a locker. They had placed him in a cell by himself. He looked down at the bright gaudy orange flip flop shoes they gave him and groaned.

Big Dog thought it would be better if he calmed down on his own before being placed in a cell with others. Lester had told them to keep him away from anyone in holding because he knew the guy Ranger had picked up was in holding and didn't think it would be conducive to anyone's health if the two of them met.

Lester looked out the bars, he was on the bottom tier of the cell block. The cell block was set up in an octagonal pattern with the cells facing the main control room. He could see the correction officers looking into each cell from the window. The main cell was to his left and he could hear the conversations of other inmates carry over to him.

_I can't believe I almost killed him. If Ranger and Tank hadn't shown up, Hal would have been dead. And to hit the wanna be cop and throw him. I wasn't thinking. I was too pissed that Hal actually could have hurt Alex more than what he did. _Lester thought. He turned and walked back over to the far wall. His stomach was queasy, he almost killed Hal, killed him, because he hurt Alex. _I need to get out of here. I'm supposed to be watching her, it was court ordered. Way to go Lester. Get yourself stuck behind bars because you got angry. Well, it was justified though. I need to see her, I was stupid for getting Hal in a public place, should have waited until he left the mall. How in the world did she get under my skin like this? I've never had anyone do this to me before._

"Santos."

Lester spun around and saw Joe leaning on the bars. "Morelli."

Joe put his fingers through the bars and tapped them back and forth, "You're in a little bit of a bind here. Aren't you?"

"It would seem so." Lester said and shrugged his shoulders.

_He's gloating! Fuck! I don't like this. I don't like this at all. _Lester thought.

Joe pulled his hand out and stuck it in his pocket, and he pulled the key to the cell out. "How bad do you want out?"

Lester looked at the key. _Freedom. But at what price?_ Lester thought.

"Why don't you just open the door?" Lester stated.

"Come now, we both know how this game is played. I scratch your back, you scratch mine." Joe stated.

Lester turned around and walked over to the far wall and leaned against it and then looked back at Morelli. "How bad is your itch?"

"My itch is about five foot five, beautiful black curly hair, amazing blue eyes like her mother's, trust isn't given easily. Yet, she's given you a measure of it." Joe said.

Lester could tell he was studying him. "You want her trust, then you have to prove it to her, gain it. I can't do that for you. Only you can do that."

Joe nodded. "I figured as much."

"Then what are you after?" Lester asked.

"Don't encourage it anymore than where it's at. I don't want it moving any further. She's underage, and I'm pretty sure she's mine. The DNA test will state it in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours." Joe put the key back in his pocket. "I have one person I'm going to have to deal with as soon as it becomes public knowledge she's mine. I'm fairly certain he miss used his place of authority in her life and crossed the line with it. Don't cross that line Santos."


	37. Chapter 37

Stephanie sat in the waiting area of the police station. She watched as Ranger left and came back inside several times. He was on the phone with Tank several times that she had been aware of. Her phone rang and she answered it.

"Oh my god, you'll never believe this. This is so unbelievable. I can't understand why we never heard about this sooner." Mary Lou said.

"What?" Stephanie asked.

"Get this; Lacy Ramono during our sophomore year was seeing Jason Wilson. I know because I checked some of my old slam books. I got curious and dug out my box of high school things I kept." Stephanie could hear her flipping pages. "Okay, on page ten of my slam book the question was: If you ever had a child who would you want the father to be? She put Joe's name as her answer, and underneath it, she also wrote that Joe got her pregnant."

"What?" Stephanie exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me this back in high school? I would have remembered that."

"That's just it; I never could read the pages. I was looking through this, when my son came in with his light and said it wasn't working right. It was a black light, I had the slam book and took it with me to his room and hooked up his black light again. And the ink, someone else wrote on the page, so I didn't think anything of it. She wrote all through my slam book in this ink that only shows under the black light."

"Oh my god. No wonder no one knew any of this."

"That isn't all." Stephanie felt a hand on her hand, and Ranger tugged and he took her outside the station. Mary Lou went on. "She also wrote that she knew that Sarah was pregnant by Joe and that Joe would never know. That Jason had a plan to keep Joe's unborn child away from him for good. Steph, it says it right here in my slam book, but I don't know what the plan is. It says to see another slam book. It's like reading a confession. She said Jason is sick and twisted, but I don't have that stuff. According to my slam book it's in other slam books, they have to be tracked down to get the whole story, and that's just my sophomore slam book. That's the easy one to read. You should read my junior and senior year slam books. She did the same thing in those."

"Oh my god. Oh my god. Mary Lou, you have to let me come get them. Joe has to know this." Ranger stood in front of Stephanie with his eyebrows raised in question. "I'll tell you in a bit." Stephanie said to him.

"Come and get them. But I want every juicy detail since I found this. I can't believe I had the answers the whole time. All those slam books though. How many hold so much information? I never knew it, and all the initials she has, I'm not sure who they all might be though."

"I'll be over to get them. This is too good. See you in a bit." Stephanie hung up the phone. She looked at Ranger. "You have to let me drive to Mary Lou's. Keys, keys, keys, please."

"Babe, exactly what does Mary Lou have?" Ranger asked.

"Answers to the questions everyone wants to know. And a trail to get more answers." Stephanie said. "I wonder if I have stuff written like that in my own slam books."

"A slam book? Babe, silly stupid shit was written in those things. Girls were crazy back then asking questions to know your likes and dislikes and shit like that. What could possibly be written in something like that, that makes you think you can solve who Alex's mother really is, or what really happened?" Ranger asked.

"Because it was written in ink that only shows up under black lights. She hid what she wrote, so no one really knew." Stephanie said.

"I'm not giving you my keys. Let's go, we'll do this together." Ranger said.

"What happened to Joe figuring this out on his own?" Stephanie asked as she followed Ranger back to the SUV.

Ranger looked over at her, "I'm curious as to what she wrote. I'm not telling Morelli any of this. I want to figure out why Morelli doesn't know he has a kid, and why no one in the burg ever figured it out before now."

"It blows my mind away. I want the juicy story now. Because I have to know how all of this happened." Stephanie said.

"Let's go slam book hunting then." Ranger said as he got to his SUV and opened the door for Stephanie and then got in on his side.

Joe stayed where he was looking at Lester. _Take it, leave her alone. She doesn't need you right now. What she needs in her life is me. She needs her father in her life more than she needs a boyfriend. And one that is almost twice her age. I don't like this. _Joe thought.

"I don't plan on hurting her," Lester said. He moved away from the wall and walked over to the bars. "I'm not stupid Morelli. She needs to learn that she can trust you. I'm not taking your place in her life. Her trust in me has nothing to do with you."

"Is that a no then?" Joe asked as he moved away from the bars.

_Damn it Santos. Don't fucking do this to me. I need to get her to trust me and you're my ticket into that wall she's built up. _Joe thought.

He saw Lester turn back around and rub the buzz cut on his head. "No it's not a no." He watched Lester spin back around. "I'm not going to cross that line. Christ Morelli! She isn't ready for that." Lester went over to the bars where Joe was and lowered his voice. "As to the person who crossed that line with her, that's a fresh wound Morelli. It hasn't healed yet. I'm not backing down on her trusting me. She has to trust me as long as she's under my protection as court ordered. I have no intentions of bedding Alex, she doesn't need that. What she needs right now is you. Pushing me out of her life right now isn't going to help you Morelli. I'm the only one she trusts at the moment, and even what I have with her is on shaky ground. Pushing me away is the last thing she needs right now."

_I can't believe I'm actually having this conversation. I thought when and if I had kids, I would be talking to some little punk whoever my daughter thought about seeing or dating, not a full grown man. I never pictured having a daughter growing up away from me either. _Joe thought. He turned around and walked the length of the little cell Lester was in. He looked at the man. _He almost killed someone for Alex, so his feelings run deeper than what he's letting on. He understands her trust issues a little better than I do at this point. At least he knows Alex needs me. Hell, I really have to give him credit for that one. And he knows that her wound is recent, and her trust is very unstable right now. Hell, I can't risk shaking what little trust she has in someone at this point. She'll end up blaming me for this. It will more than likely be my fault. I can't stand by and watch him come in and take her away from me. I haven't even gotten her yet, I never knew._

Joe walked to the cell door and pulled out the key in his pocket. He leaned on the door and looked at Lester who was standing on the opposite side. "I won't push you away, but you got to give me the chance to step in and gain that trust she needs in me. She needs her father more than she needs a boyfriend at this point in her life."

"I'm not looking for boyfriend status with her at the moment. Friendship is what she needs right now from me. I'm not stepping past that line with her. She needs both of us right now and you'll just have to learn to live with that." Lester told him.

Alex leaned back in Joe's chair as she moved out of the way of the paperclip that had came sailing over Antoine and Joe's computer. She tossed it back over the computers at Antoine. Then she pushed the chair back and went under Joe's desk in the compartment for the legs and feet. Antoine was laughing as he felt the hand grab his right ankle.

"You little shit." Antoine said and pushed back from his desk. "I'm going to get you for that."

Alex moved out from under the desk and Antoine was around his and Joe's desk and he had the toy gun of Morelli's and shot her in the chest with the toy dart.

"No fair. I had to put that up, you can't use that either." Alex told him.

"Yes I can. I wasn't told to leave it alone."

Alex grabbed the dart. "I have the ammo for the gun now." Alex went back under the desk and then flattened herself on the floor and moved over to Antoine's side when she heard the voices.

"Where's Morelli?" The deep voice came out with a slight rasp.

"Morelli's in the prison area, why? What can I do for you two?" Antoine said.

"We just wanted to show him the court order for protection that was signed. We heard that Lester Santos was picked up; he had one Caitlyn Alexandria Ramono in his care. We are here to pick her up."

Alex heard the deep voice again and stayed still and quiet.

"Oh, you came to pick up Caitlyn Alexandria Ramono huh?" Alex could hear the amusement in Antoine's voice. She heard him walk back around to his desk and she saw him sit down and move closer in to where she was. She saw the toy gun in his hand as he was pushing it in towards her. Alex took it out of his hand.

"Yes, we need to get her now. Where is she?"

"She's not here at the moment." She heard Antoine tell them.

Alex's heart rate sped up. She saw him move his chair so he could give her more room under his desk, his chair was now sitting sideways and she could hear Antoine shuffling through the papers on his desk.

"We have information she is here." Alex heard the other male speak she hadn't heard his voice before.

"Where did this information come from? And I assure you, Caitlyn Alexandria Ramono is not here." Antoine still said in that amused voice.

"It doesn't matter where it came from. Don't be a hard ass with us; you are playing on the wrong side of the playground." The deep voice rang out.

"No," Antoine laughed. "The wrong side of the playground? Dear me, and here I thought I was swimming with the sharks and I ended up with bullies. If you want Caitlyn Alexandria Ramono, I suggest you go to Twelve Lincoln Way, slot seventeen boys."

Alex saw Antoine's hand come back under the desk. It found her left cheek; she felt the caress he gave. _Twelve Lincoln Way is the city cemetery for people who can't pay to be buried. The real Alex is dead. _Alex thought. _Jesus, that is what they solved, I'm not Alex. _

"Don't be stupid, she isn't dead."

Alex heard the laugh that Antoine gave out, it was loud and boisterous, full of mockery. He didn't take his hand away from her cheek. "That court order is not worth the paper it's written on. The person you are trying to protect has been dead for over fifteen years." She heard Antoine's voice change to a deep growl on what he said next. "Now get the hell out of here. I'm not giving you shit, after you came in and took my cases. I gave you what you wanted. Not my fault that one is dead."

"Come on, let's go."

Alex heard the two walk away. She felt Antoine's hand move away and then she saw Antoine looking under his desk.

"You okay kiddo? I know Joe didn't want you finding out about this yet. And this is a shitty way of you finding out like that." Antoine said.

Alex pulled her knees up to her chest. "Who am I then?" She asked in a real small voice.

"We don't know yet." Antoine moved the chair back and squatted down. "You want me to go find out what is taking Joe so long?" He asked and he reached and caressed her cheek again. "I'm sorry you had to hear all of that. But I couldn't let them take you. Joe would have killed me if I did."

"Yeah," Alex said and closed her eyes. She felt his hand linger on her cheek for a little longer and then she heard him walk away at a brisk pace. Alex stayed where she was under Antoine's desk.

_Dead! The real Alex is dead. So what does that make me? A replacement? A consolation prize for bereavement? Who am I? Why did it have to be me? Why me? _Alex thought.


	38. Chapter 38

Joe heard the footsteps behind him; he turned to look to see who it was.

"You need to come now, the feds came trying to get Alex. They had a Protective Order for Caitlyn Alexandria Ramono that was issued by the Court." Antoine said.

Joe interrupted him. "You didn't let them take her did you?"

"No," Antoine stated.

Lester let out a sigh, "Morelli, you have to let me out of here."

Joe turned back to the door and opened the cell. "I'll deal with you in her life Santos. Don't make me regret this."

He turned back to Antoine before he allowed Lester to say anything else to him. "How did they miss not seeing Alex?"

"We were messing around, I was keeping her entertained, and she went under the desks. I shot her with the toy gun and she took the ammo with her. That was when they came up. She knows Ramono is dead. I had to get them to leave, but she found out about Ramono." Antoine told him.

"I didn't want her to find out like that." Joe said as the three of them started walking out of the cell area. "I can't give her answers to who she is yet." Joe ran his hands through his hair. "Damn. I didn't want her finding that out, it was bad enough when she found out she was younger than what she really is."

Joe felt the hand on his arm and he stopped to look at Lester, "How old is she?"

_He's worried now. Good, now maybe he can understand why I don't want him pushing a relationship with her. _Joe thought.

"At least fourteen. She'll turn fifteen this year Santos. I don't have her birth date yet. I do know the month is July, just not the day." Joe told him.

"Shit!"

Joe heard the shock as it registered from Lester, "Precisely."

Joe turned away from Lester. _Let him deal with that, Alex was upset enough when she found out. _Joe thought.

"How did she take it?" Lester asked.

"How do you think she took it Santos?" Joe turned to look at him. "How would you like to find out you are younger than what you are? You aren't the person you thought you were that you don't even belong to the people who had you. She wants answers Santos that I don't have yet. She doesn't need to find out anything else today. I don't want her falling apart on me right now. Not until I can make sure I have what she needs to help her piece her life back."

"We need Fritos, bean dip, and coke." Lester said.

"What?" Joe asked.

"I'll go get it." Antoine said and ran off from the two.

"Her comfort food. Ranger saw it in the car, along with stuff Stephanie usually gets. Ranger had asked Stephanie about it and said that was what Alex went for." Lester told him.

_At least he's giving me information on what she wants. This is good, maybe Santos will work with me enough to keep her distracted till I have answers. _Joe thought.

"Let's get your stuff, and get you out of those orange shoes." Joe looked down and shook his head, "I need you to keep her distracted for the next day or so. Long enough for me to start getting answers. I don't want her playing what ifs with me, and I want her to understand that she's still Alex. As far as I'm concerned, she can keep that name, I don't plan on her losing that name if she wants it."

"I can keep her distracted." Lester told him.

"Good, make sure you do." Joe pulled the picture out of his pocket that he had that was in the plastic bag. "Let me know if you find anything like this." He showed it to Lester.

"We have one, but it's only of Alex, when she was two. It's at the office." Lester told him. "Is this her mother?"

"Yes. And I want that other picture. This is just not about Alex, Santos. There is some sick twisted fucker out there playing with me. Alex is caught in the middle of this. I can't even find out who signed my name to the birth record because it's classified." Joe said.

Lester handed the photo back, "Try Blade, it's his code name for the guy who left the picture. He was Shiropolli's stooge. He's an agent Morelli. I don't think he's the one who started this shit, maybe he's working for the person who did. He's renegade though. You better call Ranger; he knows more than I do."

"I have a few contacts on the inside; I'll see what I can come up with first." Joe turned and started walking towards the inmate check out. Joe signed all the paperwork releasing Lester into his custody. He would have to pay the security guard out at the mall a visit later tonight and get him to drop the charges on Lester. "Get your stuff."

Lester laced his boots back on and put everything back on his person that had been taken from him. By the time Lester was done, Antoine arrived back with the things Lester had asked for. Lester took the bag from him. Joe led Lester into the detective section of the precinct. Joe could hear the click, whoosh, thunk, and plop. He kept hearing the same sounds only louder by the time they arrived at his and Antoine's cubicle. Joe went around to Antoine's desk and squatted down. Alex was shooting the toy gun at the desk underneath making the dart stick over and over again.

"Hey Kitten, you want to trade that gun in for a coke, Fritos and bean dip?" Joe asked her.

_How does he know about that? _Alex thought. She turned and looked at Joe. She pushed the dart back down into the gun. "How about you let me keep the gun and you give me the other things as well?"

Alex turned and shot the same spot she'd been shooting for at least the last half hour. She was waiting for the yell to come again. The yell she heard from the other side of the room. It was almost time for it.

"Son of a Bitch! Cut that damn shit out. Twenty minutes straight, damn can't hear myself think."

"Shut up Davis!" Joe yelled back at him. "You don't want me to voice your annoying little habits."

Alex turned and looked at Joe. "He screams a lot, it's this sound that really annoys him." Alex reached out pulled the dart off the desk. The sucker made the loud pop as it gave away. She could hear Davis groan loud in the background. She saw Joe smiling at her.

"I'll have to remember that. You just gave us something to annoy him now when he gets on our nerves." Joe reached out for the gun. "How about you give me my gun back now, Kitten? That way I can shoot it when Davis gets on my nerves. Then Santos can take you to go levitate some excess energy."

Alex looked out from under the desk and saw Lester grinning down at her. She saw the bag in his hand and looked back at Joe. She placed the gun in his hand. "Who am I?"

Joe took her hand in his free one and gave a tug pulling her out from under the desk. "You're my Kitten. That's who you are." He drew her to him and put his arms around her.

_I want to be more than just Kitten. _Alex thought. _I haven't been held like this in awhile._

Lester watched as Alex went into Joe's arms. The one thing he noticed was the tense way her body froze up and then relaxed. She buried her face into Joe's chest. Lester sat down on the corner of Antoine's desk. He watched as Joe looked back and saw Antoine's chair behind him and Joe sat down pulling Alex with him. Joe let Alex continue to cry as he soothed her. Lester sat the bag down and got up. "I need to make a call, I'll be back."

Lester walked out of the station, Antoine followed him outside. He pulled out his phone and was ready to dial Ranger when he heard the shot. Lester spun as he saw Antoine go down who was standing right beside him. Looking up Lester saw the white van peel out of the police parking lot. Three uniform officers ran out of the station with guns drawn, one of them had their gun trained on Lester.

"I didn't do it. White Van, couldn't see the driver." Lester said. He looked down at Antoine and saw the dart sticking out of his chest.

_Blade! Fuck! How did he know she was here? This guy is losing it. _Lester thought. _We have to get Alex out of here. _

One of the officers pulled the dart out of Antoine's chest and unwrapped the paper.

"Next time do as you're asked." He looked around to the other officers "What does this mean?"

_Blade sent the feds in. He's pushing buttons on both levels. _Lester thought. He moved around the officers and headed for the door that was opening up. Lester saw Joe in the doorway. "Where is Alex?"

"Behind me. What happened to Antoine?" Joe asked.

Lester saw Alex look around Joe and the horror and fear come over her features. "Scarface." He heard Alex's weak voice.

Joe spun around and faced Alex, "Who?"

Lester moved towards them and pushed Joe back inside and shut the door behind him. He saw the same look in Alex's eyes that she had when she came out of the tranquilizer she had been given the first night he took her to Jose's house. "He's not here, Alex."

"I want to go China now. I don't care what Jose said about waiting, I want to leave now." Alex looked from Joe to Lester.

"China? What are talking about?" Joe asked. "Who is Scarface?"

Joe moved and reached out for Alex. Lester watched for a brief moment as she was going to fight with Joe but she relaxed and went straight to him.

"Scarface is Blade, Morelli." Lester walked over to them, "I agree with Alex, you and she need to leave. I know you want to get to the bottom of things. But at the rate he's working you're going to have to have help. China isn't a bad idea."

Lester saw Alex look up at Joe, "Come to China with me, please? Jose said someone has to come with me. Please, I don't want to stay here anymore." Alex pleaded with Joe.

Joe looked down into Alex's pleading and scared faced. _She is so scared of this man she doesn't want to be anywhere near him. Half way around the world is her idea of hiding from him. How can I say no to this face? _Joe thought.

"Okay, Kitten." Joe said as he wiped the tears from her face yet again today. "We can't leave right now though; things have to be taken care of." He looked over at Lester.

"Tomorrow, we'll have the both of you gone by tomorrow." Lester said. Lester pulled his cell phone out and dialed.

Joe looked back at Alex; he saw the fear recede from her face. "You know, I feel like I'm running and hiding from this."

Alex put her head back on his chest. "I know, but I can't handle anything else happening right now. I want it to all go away."

Joe kissed the top of her head. "You think it'll go away in China?"

"Probably not. But I can't see Scarface going into a Shoalin Temple to find me either." Alex told him, she looked back up at him. "Scarface is after me, not Shiropolli."

"What did you see?" Joe asked her. He hated when his cop hunches hit him. Alex saw something. He thought maybe she hadn't known, but the way she was talking and wanting to hide led him to believe she knew things.

"I watched him kill Mr. Williams." Alex stated. "It was my fault, I should have agreed to the deal with Shiropolli."

Joe took her head in his hands and tilted her face up to his. "That was not your fault. Don't ever think that Kitten. None of this has been your fault, I'm sorry, Kitten." Joe pulled her back to him. _I swear, when I find the person responsible for all of this, I'm going to kill them._ Joe thought.


	39. Chapter 39

Alex had her face buried back in Joe's chest. _I've never cried like this before, no one has ever held me this much before. Not like this. Like they really care about me and what is going on. James did this once but that led to sex. _Alex thought. Her body totally tensed up and she put her hands on Joe's chest and then pushed away.

"Alex?"

She looked up in Joe's face. Alex could see his brow knit in confusion and concern. Joe moved forward towards her, Alex took a step back. "Don't."

"Kitten, I'm not going to hurt you. Have I done anything to hurt you?" Joe asked.

Alex shook her head.

"What is it? What do you think I'm going to do?" He asked as he stepped forward again.

"I've never been held this much before." Alex looked around the hall only seeing Joe and Lester. She saw Lester look at her with worry, the same look Joe still had on his face.

Joe stood directly in front of her again, looking down at her. "What happened when you were being held before?"

"It was a mistake. I left the apartment because Shiropolli's guys were after me about a month ago. I went over there because he said I could come anytime, he wanted me to move in with him." Alex looked down at Joe's chest. His shirt was wet; she could see the dark blue wet stains she had made with her own tears.

"You went to James' place didn't you?" Joe asked.

Alex nodded.

"You ran to him wanting to hide, you were upset, then what happened?" Joe asked.

_Am I that easy to read? Or is he that good? _Alex thought. She kept her eyes on Joe's chest. "He held me like you did and it was just a kiss and it was mistake. It shouldn't have happened." Alex looked up at Joe. "I never had been held like that and it felt good but not right at the same time."

"That was not your fault; he stepped over a line he should never have crossed with you. I would never do anything like that with you, Kitten." Joe reached up and caressed her cheek. "We can talk about this later. I want you to tell me everything about James."

She wanted to lean into his hand at the same time that she saw that look of raw anger in his eyes briefly before he masked it. His face went totally blank. Alex looked over at Lester, she saw him mouth out it'll be okay and he went back to the phone. She looked back at Joe. "Don't hurt James. It was my mistake, I could have stopped and I didn't. Don't hurt him."

"Kitten," She heard the sigh that escaped from Joe, "He should have known better. We'll talk about this later. When we are alone and have more time."

Lester had gotten Ranger on the phone and told him what was going on, he had waited while Ranger did a conference call with Tank, and so all three of them had been on the phone together.

"Well getting them out of the country won't be hard. We'll have to put some men on it." Tank said.

Lester was watching as Alex told Joe about her seeing Blade kill Mr. Williams. He could see that Alex was under a lot of strain. Her body was tense and then melted going from one extreme to the other. He had watched various emotions flit across her face, the extreme pressure she was under had torn down the walls of her defenses she had erected and he was witnessing her tell stuff she probably wouldn't have done otherwise given the circumstances.

"We'll put Bella on it. It'll make it easier." Ranger said.

Lester watched as Alex pulled away from Joe. He only half listened as Ranger and Tank formulated a plan that would get Joe and Alex to a safe place.

_Oh, Alex. What do you mean you haven't been held that much before? Surely someone has held you before. _Lester thought. "Yeah." Lester said in the phone.

"Lester? Lester?" Ranger asked.

"Someone needs to hit him." Tank said. "What the hell is going on that he can't keep up with this conversation?"

"I don't know." Ranger said.

"Lester?" Tank yelled at him.

"What?" Lester asked. He looked at Alex and mouthed it would be okay to her. _Fuck Morelli, don't mess this up. She only slept with the man because she wanted to feel safe, can't see that? _Lester thought as he ran his hand over his buzz cut.

"Now he decides to join us." Tank said.

"Lester what else is going on?" Ranger asked. "Did you even here me when I said we'll have Bella pose as Morelli's wife so we could get them out of the country easier and it'll be more plausible to have them hide with her?"

"Bella?" Lester asked, he laughed. _Morelli isn't going to like that. A play wife, oh man._ Lester thought. "Sounds good." Lester lied.

"Now I know he wasn't listening." Tank said.

Lester watched as Joe turned to him. "Is that Ranger?" Joe asked.

Lester nodded.

"Let me talk to him." Joe said.

"Morelli wants to talk to you. I'm giving him the phone." Lester said. He handed the phone over to Joe.

Ranger grimaced. He looked over at Stephanie who was sitting on her hands. Ranger had threatened if she took the phone away from him again while he was talking with Tank and Lester he'd send her to a third world country. She was having a hard time keeping herself from snatching the phone and this was the only method she found that had worked. And he had heard her groan several times while he was talking to Tank about putting men with Joe. Stephanie was the one who suggested Bella, he went with her suggestion. She had smiled brightly over that one. He felt Stephanie wanted Bella out of his apartment.

"I need some B&E done." Joe said.

Ranger then said, "What did you have in mind?"

"I need the rest of Alex's birth record. The place is closed, but the records are a mess. It'll take time finding them all." Joe said.

"I'll have someone swing by and pick you up. You'll need to pack some bags; I'll have you out of the country with Alex and in a safe location." Ranger wanted to hang up but he knew Tank was on the other end. "Tank, send Tommy and Paco to pick up Morelli. He'll have to show them where to look for these records."

"I'm on it." Tank said and he hung up.

"I'll have time to pack later." Joe said. "I don't want to go into hiding, I want information."

"You'll have more information later. Stephanie will fill you in." Ranger hung up the phone before Joe could ask anything else.

Stephanie shook her head, "You should have told him about Bella."

"We'll let that be a surprise. I can't tell him he's getting married that quickly." Ranger said and grinned.

"It's not like it's a real marriage." Stephanie said. "Turn right, you're going to miss the street."

Ranger turned and then went to the house that Stephanie pointed out. They pulled up in front of Mary Lou's house. Ranger noticed all the toys scattered across the front yard. Two bicycles, a tricycle, a big red wagon, several industrial metal Tonka trucks; Ranger bit down the smile that was trying to form on his face. The Tonka trucks were bringing back good memories.

Stephanie bounded out of the car, "Kenny, is going through a Star Wars phase. He thinks he's Darth Vader. So if he puts his hand up and waves it aside, you're supposed to run into a wall or something, which ever direction his hand goes."

_She has to be joking; I'm not running into a wall for a kid. This is a kid isn't it?_ Ranger thought. "Why, Babe?"

"His therapist says he's suffering from middle child anxiety issues. Mary Lou and Lenny are supposed to let him have his control during play time and he really likes the force."

Ranger listened to Stephanie as she made her way around other scattered toys and he picked his way behind her in the urban toy assault in Trenton suburbia. Ranger could hear the wailing as the door bell rang. Stephanie was already dancing around the porch like she had won the lottery. The door opened. The first thing Ranger noticed was the wailing three or four year old on the floor.

"I'm dying, my stomach is empty." He lifted his eyes to look at his mother who had her back turned to him. "I'm gonna die here. I'm starved."

Mary Lou turned and looked down at her son. "Make sure you call the papers, tell them you want a full page spread on how you can starve in thirty minutes." Ranger watched her hands go on her hips. This had always been don't mess with the mama routine in his house when he was growing up. He looked back to the floor. "You can't be starved. You've had two separate breakfasts, and third helpings at lunch, and I just fed you milk and cookies thirty minutes ago. Your father will be home in an hour and we'll be going to Gran's for dinner. Now get off the floor and go find your other shoe."

Ranger watched as he threw his hands up in the air. "You don't care that I'm starving. I'm dying here." He got up and grabbed his stomach moaning. "I'm going to die before we get to Gran's."

"Knock it off, Mikey" Mary Lou said. She turned to Ranger, "Forgive him; I swear I think he's swallowed a tape worm. I can't seem to keep enough food in the house for him. Kenny, he was like that at his age, and the next thing I knew I was buying pants and shoes three sizes bigger. He's going through a growth spurt."

Ranger followed Stephanie into the house. The house relatively clean compared to the toy war zone outside.

"Where are they?" Stephanie asked.

"Oh still in Kenny's room. I left them on his desk when I had to feed Mikey." Mary Lou stated.

Stephanie and Ranger followed Mary Lou down the hall. Mary Lou stopped and Stephanie was right beside her. Ranger looked over their heads and saw Darth Vader standing in the hall. The breathing that came from the mask sounded just like the breathing in the movie. Ranger saw the finger hit the button and heard Darth Vader's voice. "You don't know the power of the dark side."

"Kenny, I need to get inside your room now. I have to get my things off your desk. You can be Darth Vader later." Mary Lou said.

Ranger saw him hit another button, and then he heard a voice that didn't quite sound normal but sounded deeper than what it should be.

"The rebel scum is not allowed inside the Death Star." He raised his hand, "The force shall cast the rebels back."

Ranger watched as he moved his hand to the left and Mary Lou and Stephanie went left right along with his hand and into the wall. Kenny turned to him. "Bow Rebel Scum or be killed."

"I'm Emperor Palpatine; I had to use this disguise. Now I need the Rebel's plans that are on the desk in the Death Star." Ranger told him.

Kenny bowed down on one knee and bowed his head. "My bidding is yours my master. Forgive me for not seeing through the force that is surrounding you. I shall get the plans and deliver them to you. Shall I kill the rebel scum that has deceived you?"

Ranger looked over to Stephanie and Mary Lou. "I'll deal with these rebel scums. Bring their plans. If you fail in this mission, I'll have to take off your helmet."

Kenny looked up at Ranger, "But my master, I cannot survive without my helmet."

"Then see you don't disappoint me." Ranger said then bit his tongue. He had to keep up appearances, but there was no way he was going to be falling into a wall because some little kid wanted his way.

"Yes my master." Kenny got up and pushed the button for the breathing and turned and walked into his room. A short time later he walked out with the notebooks and handed them to Ranger. "What is my bidding now, my master?"

Ranger took the notebooks, "The death star is being invaded, go kill the rebel scum in there."

Kenny stood after he bowed and pulled his toy light saber from his costume and turned it on, the red glow and hum coming from the toy. He opened the door to his room all the while Darth Vader's breathing could be heard, "Die Rebel Scum!" He aimed the light saber into the room and vanished behind the door.

Mary Lou and Stephanie died laughing after the door shut. "Emperor Palpatine? Why didn't I think of that?" Mary Lou groaned out and laughed more with Stephanie.

"Where's the black light?" Stephanie asked as she stopped laughing.

"In Kenny's room." Mary Lou said looking at the door.

Ranger looked back to the door, "Babe, we'll go get a black light. I think Darth Vader needs to be left alone."

Another door opened and Ranger turned his head to see a little girl about ten years old. "Mom, my pen ran out again."

"Which one, Bobby Jo?" Mary Lou asked.

"The spy pen Daddy bought me. The one that lets me right my invisible messages." She said.

Ranger bent down, "Where did you get this pen?" he asked her.

"Daddy bought it at Wal-Mart. It's really cool; because I can write notes and my friends have them too. And my little brother can't read them, well, he can under his light. But I have a light on my pen, that's not working either. They are in the toy section." She said.

"Thank you." Ranger stood back up, "Come Babe, we have to go toy shopping."

Ranger walked back down the hall with the slam books in his arms he paused when he got back to the door. Sitting in the floor was a cat, a big bluish grey cat that had a green army man in his mouth. Ranger heard Mikey.

"Die you evil cat." Mikey said. He had a big Army man, Ranger noticed he was a captain and he had seen these toys in Lester's room at headquarters. He knew these toys were Sigma 6. Ranger considered Lester a nut for collecting toys, but Lester was a big kid.

Mikey stopped stalking the cat when he saw Ranger's shoes and looked up. "It's a travesty of war."

"You win some, you loose some." Ranger told him.

"Looks like the cat's winning." Stephanie said.

"The cat always wins." Mary Lou stated and reached down to take the toy and the cat growled at her. "See what I mean. He wins all the time in the toy war."

Ranger reached for the door knob and put his foot out and slid the cat over towards Mikey. "I think you're going to need reinforcements."

Mikey jumped up, "I'll get the spray bottle, it's what Daddy does to him." Mikey ran off.

"No, no water in the house Mikey." Mary Lou called after the disappearing four year old. She looked at Stephanie, "You owe me. Joe owes me. I see a weekend coming on and babysitting."

Stephanie looked down at her watch, "Gee look at the time. We have to run."

Ranger opened the door and then looked back at Mary Lou, "Tell Stephanie when you need her to come sit. I'll make sure she has reinforcements to handle things."

Stephanie turned and looked at Ranger, "If I'm doing this, I'm bringing Emperor Palpatine with me."

Ranger grinned at her, "That was a one time act. There are no repeat performances."


	40. Chapter 40

Alex heard the sirens outside; she looked over to the door that led out of the back of the police department to the employee parking lot. Lester moved over beside her, "He's going to be okay."

"You don't know that for sure." Alex said.

She heard Lester snort and Alex turned to look at him. "You got me, I don't know for sure, but I do have a hunch that he'll be okay. If Blade wanted to kill him, he would have just shot him instead of giving him a message."

"Scarface fits him better. Why is he called Blade?" Alex asked. She looked up at Lester, her eyes swollen and red from crying. "How do you even know him?"

"I don't know him; just know a little about him." Lester looked down into her blue eyes. "Ranger knows more than I do."

The back door opened up and officers started coming in. Gaspick came in and looked over at Alex and Lester. "Finally decided to show up huh?"

Joe hung up the phone with Ranger and walked over towards Alex and Lester. "I would like to have a word with you Officer Gaspick. Why don't we step into my office?"

"I don't think so Morelli. I don't care what I'm hearing about her being yours. She still assaulted an officer and things like that need to be taken care of." Gaspick moved over towards Alex.

Joe rounded both Alex and Lester putting himself between them and Gaspick. "I advise you to let this drop. You don't want me as your enemy, I don't care who you are sleeping with and what strings you think you can pull. You leave what's mine alone."

Gaspick stopped short and looked Joe in the eye. "I'm not letting the charges drop."

"Officer Gaspick, I think things would work out smoothly if you did." Joe turned to see the Chief Pantangelo walking up the hall towards them. "You see, I like my men to work together and I like my department to run as smooth as it can, and it would pain me very much if one of my best men has to do something drastic to another officer under my command when he feels his child is being threatened."

Joe looked back at Gaspick and saw him swallow hard. The Chief was now asking him to drop this, it wasn't just coming from Joe anymore.

"He doesn't know for sure that she's his." Gaspick said as he turned to look at the Chief.

"Not yet, but we'll know soon enough. I want it dropped if she turns out to be his, am I making myself clear enough." Chief Pantangelo looked over towards Alex and gave her a wink, then looked back towards Gaspick. "It better happen, or I'll make your job hard, real hard."

Gaspick let out a slow long breath, he knew the Chief could assign him anywhere in the city and give him any assignment that would mean working him to the bone and worse. "If she turns out to be his, then I see no reason to let the charges remain; why would I? I mean what's it between two brothers of the blue."

"Good call." Pantangelo said. He nodded down the hall and watched as Gaspick hurried along back to his desk to work on some reports.

"Thank you, but you know I could have handled that." Joe said.

Pantangelo looked over towards him, "I know you could have. I didn't do it for you anyway, he's getting too big for his britches and he needed to be taken down a peg. I'd rather I do it than have Internal Affairs inside my station trying to figure out why I allowed one of my guys to hurt another."

Pov Change

Ranger and Stephanie got back into the vehicle. Ranger pulled out onto the road as Stephanie was turning page after page, she laughed in places and groaned as she reached others.

"I forgot most of this." Stephanie said as she kept flipping pages.

"Probably something you don't need to remember," Ranger said as he pulled back onto the main road and turned towards the nearest Wal-mart.

Stephanie laughed. "Most of this is so funny now. I can't believe how stupid some of this is now. Debbie Wilton had this mad crush on Eddie Gazarra back then. Eddie ended up with Shirley though." She turned and looked at Ranger, "it doesn't look like anything would be hidden in these either. Using ink that can only be read under certain light, I would have never thought of using something like that."

"Some people have a different mind set Babe. It sounds like she didn't want just anyone finding out what was going on but it seems like she had to tell someone. Maybe that was the best way she could come up with. Write it down and relieve some of what was on her consciousness." Ranger turned into the parking lot of Wal-mart, he grabbed a slot and parked.

He looked over at Stephanie. "Let's go find these pens."

Stephanie watched as Ranger walked into the Wal-mart. The first thing she noticed was a woman pushing a buggy full of bags trying to get out of the door. She had her head turned to watch Ranger and she pushed the cart into one of the coke machines beside the exit to the door. Stephanie grinned and kept following him. She had seen him have women break things when he walked past and now she felt this might be entertaining enough inside a store. She had never really seen him in a store, never seen him shopping at anything unless you counted Sunny's place where he took her for the first time to get a gun. Even then Ranger didn't purchase anything, she was the one who made all the purchases, but Ranger seemed to belong inside that place. While following him, Stephanie noticed that Ranger didn't seem to belong in a store, at least not in Wal-mart. He didn't fit in; he looked out of place in the store.

She grinned when Ranger turned right, she knew the toy department was the other way but didn't say anything. Studying what he was doing at the moment was too much fun, when he got to the end of the front of the store she watched as he stopped and turned around. Stephanie tried to hide the grin on her face. "You haven't shopped much in here have you?"

"Not a lot. FAO Schwartz in New York is more my style when it comes to toys for kids Babe." Ranger said as he came up to her and took her hand. "Be an angel of mercy and lead me to the toys."

Stephanie laughed and turned around and started walking hand and hand with Ranger back down the way they came. They reached the toy department and Stephanie looked over to Ranger. "Any ideas what aisle it would be down?"

Ranger gave her a hundred watt smile, "I don't think we need to go down any little girl aisles unless you want too."


	41. Chapter 41

Tank had left the hospital as soon as Bobby had arrived. He was headed back to the building on Haywood, he wanted to get Lula and get out of town like he had promised. _None of this should be happening. Morelli is going to freak at having Bella around him and posing as his wife. At least they'll be out of the country when this happens, hopefully we can keep this quiet and no one in the Burg will find out about it. _Tank pulled into the underground lot and jumped out of the vehicle he was in and rode the elevator to the fourth floor, when the doors opened he heard the argument.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Carlos is like a brother to me as well as the rest of the guys that work for him. I don't have any intentions toward any of the men here." Bella said in an exasperated voice.

"Umph! You say that now. Still don't mean you won't try something when we have our back turned." Lula said.

Bella looked at Tank as he was walking up, "Please tell her I would never do anything like that."

"Lula, Bella is telling you the truth." Tank walked up behind Lula and pulled her into his arms. "Bella already has an assignment and things will work out fine. She's going to work here for a short while until she figures out what she wants."

"I tried telling her that." Bella said. "She just wouldn't take my word for it. She thinks I'm going to dig my hands into Ranger the first chance I get or one of his men."

Tank laughed. "Lula, you have a lot to learn about Bella. She wouldn't do anything of the sort."

"I know a few people who have gotten married to their god-sisters. I just think it wouldn't be a good idea with her staying here is all." Lula said.

Tank turned Lula around in his arms so she was facing him and he tilted her head back. "Since when are you insecure with anyone?"

Lula pulled out of Tank's arms and put her hands on her hips. "You calling me insecure of some skinny ass little Italian woman? Hell, I ain't got no problem with it. I'm just looking out for Stephanie. Stephanie is the one who needs to be secure in things."

Tank flashed Lula a smile, "And here I thought I was going to have to take you, Miss Randall into my room and show you just how much I could make you feel secure that no one would be able to come in between you and me. Guess I was wrong."

Lula let her hands fall from her hips. "I guess I could be a little insecure."

Tank raised his eyebrows. "Is that so," he asked as he stretched his hand out to her, "In that case Miss Randall, would you accompany me into my abode and I'll see if I can rectify any insecurity you may have."

Lula took his hand and Tank saw the sheepish smile she sent towards Bella. Bella was grinning from ear to ear, "Please let me get out of your way."

POV Change

The intercom crackled and then the message came through the speakers: Detective Morelli, you have visitors at the front door.

Joe put his hand on the back of Alex's neck and squeezed lightly; she turned and walked with him. "I want you to stay with Lester around the corner from the glass doors until I know who it is. Understood?"

"Yes." Alex groaned out. "Are you going to start telling me what I can do and what I can't do and when I can do anything?"

Joe stopped before the glass doors and released her neck and turned to look at her. "Do you have a problem with this? Because, I won't go to China if you can't learn to do what I tell you. I only have your best interests at heart here. I don't want anything happening to you."

"You're not giving me any options here, it's not like I'm five. I've been taking care of myself for awhile now, it's not like I don't know how. If you don't want to go with me then fine, I'll ask someone else." Joe saw Alex turn to look at Lester.

Lester backed up, "I'm staying out of this. This is between you and Joe." Lester leaned up against the wall.

Joe reached up and took Alex's chin in his hand and turned her to face him. He wanted to see those blue eyes of hers. "You've been taking care of yourself real well, so well in fact that my boss just got you off the hook to keep you out of jail. You also have Shiropolli who wants to make sure you can't talk to anyone, and you have a nut that is leaving pictures of you all over the place. You've done a great job at taking care of yourself. So good in fact that if someone doesn't step in you'll be dead in a day or two."

He watched a small flash of anger as it washed over her and then fade back just under the surface, he saw her swallow and then look down.

"I'm right and you know it. So if you want to go to China, I suggest you swallow a little bit of that pride and that attitude you've got from growing up on the streets and let me help you through this so I can get to know the real you and not some little street shithead that may have a chip on her shoulder because she thinks she is a grownup and can't learn anything from anyone else."

Alex looked back up; he couldn't see any anger in her eyes anymore or anything else for that matter. Her face was totally blank. "Very well then, we'll see if your way works."

Joe narrowed his eyes and released her chin. "This isn't a game; don't think you can play me. I've been around the block a few more times than you have little lady." He backed up towards the glass door and slid his key card through access panel.

POV Change

Alex waited until Joe was through the doors and watched as he walked around the corner. She looked over at Lester who had his hands in his pants pockets and his foot placed on the wall. "Shit." Alex started walking down the hall back the way they had came.

"Alex, come here." Lester said.

She whipped her head back around, "You want to start telling me what I can and can't do now too?"

"No," Lester pushed off the wall. "But he has a point Alex. You can't do this all on your own."

"I know that damn it. I don't need it dragged up and dangled in front of me like I'm some dumb jackass that needs a carrot dawdled in front of its face to keep it moving." Alex turned back around and started walking away again and then turned back to look at Lester who was now a few paces behind her. "And since when do you think I want to hear anything from you. A few minutes ago would have been fine, but you have to choose now to give me advice when I don't fucking want it."

She heard Lester groan as he threw his hands up in the air. "I'll shut up now. No more advise Alex unless you want to hear it."

"I don't. I don't need it." Alex spat at him.

The glass door buzzed open and Alex saw Lester spin around as he shoved his hands further in his pockets. Joe walked through the door with two men.

"You two ready?" Joe asked.

She saw Lester nod to the two men and walk past them out the door. Alex walked slowly back over to where Joe was standing, he looked at Lester and then back to her. "Having problems?"

She saw a slight grin playing at the corner of Joe's mouth. "Nope, everything is just peachy."

POV Change

Ranger let Stephanie lead him down the Barbie aisle; he closed one eye and tried to hold back the grimace that wanted to cross his face. This was one toy aisle he really would have rather avoided, but when he saw Stephanie turn to look back at him he made his face as placid and unreadable as ever.

"While we are here, what does Julie like?" Stephanie asked.

Ranger looked over the shelves, "she likes the collector edition dolls. I don't see any here though."

Stephanie let his hand go. He looked back at her and saw a slight pout cross her lips. "Doesn't anything bother you at all?"

"Lots of things bother me, Babe." He slung his arm over her shoulders, "For instance. I don't like seeing that pout on your lips." He bent down and kissed her. "If you want me to tell you I don't like Barbie, I really don't Babe. GI Joe is more my style."

Ranger started walking; taking Stephanie along with him. "I thought you really wanted to find out what was in those slam books. I didn't think you wanted to toy with me."

"I couldn't pass it up, it's not like I know a whole lot about you." Stephanie said.

"You know more than most, don't discredit what you do know."

Ranger took them down a few more aisles and then they turned down the toy aisle that had martial art toys for kids as well as a few other things. Ranger reached out and grabbed the padded num-chucks and let Stephanie go. He turned around and started swinging them around in the air. "These are fun, want to try?"

Stephanie reached over and pulled out one of the toy rifles. She pulled down the cocking mechanism and then put the butt of the gun to her shoulder. "No, I think this will beat the num-chucks." Then she shot it, the echo from the gun rang out into the aisle. Ranger clutched at his chest and gave a twirl as he fell to the floor.

Stephanie lowered the rifle and walked over to him. She put the barrel of the rifle on one arm and gave a slight push. Ranger didn't move. "Ranger."

He moved his head and looked up at her, "Shh, I'm dead." He moved his head back to where it was laying on the floor.

Ranger heard the rackety wheel of the shopping cart as it was getting closer to the aisle they were on. He felt Stephanie push the barrel of the toy gun back into his arm.

"You're not dead," Stephanie said through the laughter that escaped while she spoke.

The rackety wheel turned down the aisle that Ranger and Stephanie were on.

"Stephanie Plum! What do you think you are doing?" Asked Mrs. Steeger, her third grade teacher.


	42. Chapter 42

Shiropolli sat at the table in the attorney visiting area. His lawyer sat across from him. "Well?"

"He said he's handling things."

He watched as his lawyer kept looking around not really making eye contact with him. "Blade is taking matters into his own hands isn't he?" Shiropolli watched as his lawyer nodded. "And the tape?"

His lawyer smiled, "They've lost it."

"Then why am I still in here?" Shiropolli asked.

"You'll be out by tomorrow. I've been pressing the other side to disclose the evidence, they're stalling. It's just a tactic, because they don't have the tape. They have till 6 this evening to get me a copy of things, if they don't, I'll be in front of the judge first thing tomorrow morning to have you released. These things take time."

Shiropolli stood, "Very well, but see that I'm out of here tomorrow at the very latest."

POV Change

Joe couldn't help the grin that threatened to show on his face as he walked beside Alex. "You know it wouldn't work. He's too old for you, he's seen and done things you wouldn't quite understand."

He glanced at Alex as he held the glass door open for her to walk out. Her jaw was set high in a defiance he had seen so much when he was younger. It was like he was looking at himself, only in a feminine body. "Don't make it harder than it has to be."

Alex stopped and looked up at him, "I said I would try it your way. I haven't changed my mind about that, so quit needling me. I don't like it."

"I'll try to remember that." Joe said.

He motioned her on and they headed out to the SUV.

POV Change

Blade had changed vehicles. He was sitting in a non descript car that blended in with its invironment. Cars could sometimes be like that, one of those things that was forgetable like common faces. He watched as the black SUV pulled away from the station. His prize was inside, but well guarded yet again. It pained him to see her surrounded by such. Frustration was beyond what he felt at the moment. She was like a wild flittering butterfly that was out of his grasp. One that wouldn't sit still long enough for him to come in and make his move. It was almost like she was aware of what he was doing. He was angry with himself, angry at what strings he was pulling to get her to fall into his net and aggrivated it wasn't happening.

_They found out about the child, the other cold, lifeless, little dead thing. Which way are you going now? Think. I need to stay ahead of them. All the preparations I had done were all for nothing now. What went wrong? Was it something I did? No, it couldn't have been anything I did. It was Alex, damn Sarah for naming her Medea. Child of cunning. Named her after a damn sorceress, is what Sarah did. And spat in my face as she called me Caliban. Me. Caliban, like I'm some half man. No, I'm more than a man. I'm a God. Medea won't get revenge on me, no Sarah, you were so wrong in naming her that. So wrong in calling me Caliban as if you were Miranda. Sarah you hypacrit._

POV Change

Stephanie looked up as she heard Mrs. Steeger and put the rifle behind her back like she had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "Nothing Mrs. Steeger."

"You little liar. You never could tell the truth." Mrs. Steeger said.

Ranger stood up then and looked at Mrs. Steeger staying quiet and not saying anything.

"At least its a skill I'm paid for." Stephanie said.

Ranger put his arm around Stephanie's shoulders, "We need to find what we came for."

Stephanie let Ranger walk her down the aisle they were on and she put the rifle she had still in her hands in Mrs. Steeger's shopping cart. Mrs. Steeger huffed away from them quickly. On the next aisle they found the spy toys they had been told about and Ranger pulled down three of the packages and looked over the pens.

"Lets go Babe. Play times over." Ranger walked with Stephanie to the checkout and paid for the pens.

Stephanie opened the pens as soon as she got into the car. She turned on the light and shined it down on the first page as Ranger slid in behind the wheel of the car.

"Listen to this:

It was strange, I thought I knew him. I really didn't know what to think when he asked me to move in with him. My dream was to always be with Joe, but I guess that was why it was a dream. Dreams are fleeting desperate desires of our hearts, sometimes it was like I wanted to stay in that dream world, because at least inside it, I felt I had some measure of control. With Jason, I realized too late I had no control.

He was Caliban. And he ruled with inhuman feeling inside of flesh. To say I was afraid of him would be understating the truth. I was more than afraid of him, I lived in fear which fed the dream world I was living in along with the drugs. It was the only way I could escape the horrors I had witnessed. You see Jason wanted Sarah very much, and Sarah was what he got as well as her daughter, little Alex. See page 4 in SB of SP in 92."

Stephanie looked over at Ranger, "SB of SP in 92? Slam book of course but what is SP?"

"I think it would be who not what." Ranger said as he put the key into the ignition and cranked over the car.

Stephanie flipped a few more pages. "Found another one:

He spoke so softly to Sarah, it was like he was someone else when he was in front of her. He never raised his voice, not with Sarah. It frightened me when he took Alex away, down into the hold cell, down to her mother. At times like these he would make me come down so I could clean the room. Sarah never called him by his name. She always had called him Caliban, Sarah was different that way, she wasn't like me. I was weak, so weak, I couldn't get away from Jason. He had me fully under his spell, his torturous control.

Does Princess want to see her little Medea? His voice was so smooth when he had asked her. I wouldn't have dreamed of sticking a child with the name of Medea, but that was what Sarah did. Medea Alexis Morelli, I was pleased with the middle name, that was the only thing I thought Sarah got right. Sarah would look up at Jason, I could see the pain her eyes as she watched him rock little Alex just out of Sarah's reach.

She was always tied down. Jason didn't trust her, not like he trusted me. Sarah had almost escaped a few times. She would say things to Jason that would get him to do things, it was almost like Sarah was some form of drug for him that he had to have. See page 7 in SB of TG in 92."

Stephanie layed the book down. "Caliban. Why does that sound so familar? I can't think."

"The Tempest." Ranger said.

"Oh, I remember that now. When I was a freshman they put on that play in school. Caliban was a nasty thing. Half human, vile, evil." Stephanie shivered.

Ranger reached over and placed his hand on the nape of her neck. "You don't have to read that. If Sarah saw him as Caliban it wouldn't be a good thing. That is if she is really seeing him the way Shakespear sees him."

Stephanie let out a slow breath and closed the book. She didn't find anything else in that one. She pulled out the next and started looking again as Ranger removed his hand and started driving.

"I think SP might be you, it's worth a shot. Where are your Slam books?" Ranger asked.

Stephanie turned and grinned at him, "At my parents house."

Ranger gripped the steering wheel tightly then released it as if he had to steel himself for some dreadful encounter.

"They aren't that bad."

"Your parents aren't who I'm worried about. Your granny scares the hell out of me Babe."

Stephanie laughed and flipped a few more pages. Then she started reading what she found outloud to Ranger.

"I found something Sarah wrote, it impressed me. I didn't want it to die in that hold of death and decay. So I memorized it. This was what she wrote:

Of Caliban, what can I say, he is the epitome of what I have come to understand everything that is evil and inhumane in the world. He speaks of love, love that he has for me. Yet he keeps me locked in a prison built with his own hands. I am nothing but a living thing he sees that he wants to possess, but it's not the living part of me he wants at all. He wants me dead. I can see it in his eyes. Hear it in the soft caress of his words as he tries to tell me in his own way that if I would just love him I would be set free. How can I love such a creature as he? It is my undoing. My sacrifice. I can't love him. I see that now. More clearly than I have ever seen anything before. Because I'm not the one who is bound. Caliban is the one who needs the chains, he's the one who is the slave to the monster that is inside him. I'm the sacrifice that will appease the appetite of its devilish hunger. I pray that it is satisfied for a long time. That no one has to experience what I've been through. What I'm going through. What is to come. To give Medea the time to grow. To learn. To survive."

Stephanie turned off the light and became quite. She leaned her head up against the window looking out. "She knew she was going to die."

"Yeah Babe, she did. She knew exatly what she had to give up." Ranger said as he pulled infront of her parents house. He turned off the car and reached over to Stephanie. "This isn't going to be easy. This was a sick and twisted man. Sarah said it herself, he's evil and inhumane. She was smart woman, you can read that in what she wrote Babe."

"But she wasn't smart enough to get away." Stephanie looked at Ranger. "Do you think we're smart enough to catch him?"

"It won't be easy. He's hidden what he's done pretty well. It's not him who let the cat out of the bag. It's people around him who did it."


	43. Chapter 43

Alex sat in the back of the SUV with a scowl on her face. She looked at Joe in the seat beside her ever so often as Tommy drove the SUV back to the office buildings on Haywood. _I don't know what he expected out of me. I was doing well at dodging Shiropolli's goons until they had to knock me out with tranquilizers to get me. It wasn't as if I was a sitting target. Now I have a cop who could very well possibly be my father and on top of things he thinks I can't do anything on my own. _Alex ran her hands through her curls in frustration.

"As soon as we are finished, I'll probably be back to come get you." Joe said.

"A piece of paper doesn't prove anything." Alex looked at Joe. "What do you think you'll possibly learn by finding my birth records at this place?"

Joe leaned closer to her. "For starters your real name, who your mother was, your birthday. Would you like me to continue?"

Alex looked out the window, she felt Joe move his arm around the back of the seat and his hand into her hair placing it on the back of her neck.

"Listen Alex, this isn't going to be easy. You haven't had a real good role model when it came to adults in your life. I want you to give me a chance. I thought that was what you wanted. Why else would you ask me to go to China with you?" Joe asked.

"Maybe too much adrenaline; too many things happening too fast." She turned to look at Joe. "Do you always have to be in control of everything?"

"I'm Italian and I'm a male. Those two things combined produce a very strong compulsion for me to want to control things that are within my right to control." Joe said. "But it doesn't mean I'm going to let you do things that are going to get you killed. Once everything settles down and it's proven I'm your father, I'll ease up some. Don't expect me to give you full reign on what you want to do all the time though, that won't happen, ever."

Alex studied his eyes as they bore into hers. _Damn! I'm going to have to rethink how to do this. He's dead serious about this. _"How much is some?"

"I'll give you enough rope to hang yourself, but not enough that it's going to let you get seriously hurt. We can discuss this later when we have time to sit down and think things through. I'm not going to tell you what you have to do in life. But I'm not going to take a backseat and watch you throw your life away either."

Alex looked away and closed her eyes. She never had any of this, not like this, not from someone who was dead serious about being there. "I know what I want to do. I've been doing it for six months already and I'm good at it." She looked back at Joe, "I want to keep teaching karate, where I've been teaching it."

She saw a flash of anger in his eyes and then everything went blank. "I'm glad you found something you're good at and that you like doing, but I think a different school would be the best route to take though."

"Why is that? What can you actually tell me about that school?" Alex asked him.

Joe moved his thumb back and forth across the back of her neck. "I don't want you working for James Spragget. He misused his authority in your case and crossed the line. If he did it once, he'll do it again Alex."

"You don't even know James. He's not like that. I already told you it was my fault and it shouldn't have happened."

"I may not know him personally but I know plenty about his kind. You are underage. And it wasn't your fault. He should have stopped, but he didn't. He'll do it again, and who's to say you were his first mistake? Have you ever thought about that? You need to stop defending him and actually put blame where it belongs because it's not with you." Joe said.

The SUV stopped at the gate to the underground parking at the office building. Alex turned and faced forward, she could still feel Joe's thumb on the back of her neck as he rubbed softly. Tommy pulled into one of the empty slots and parked.

"Later Lester." Tommy said.

Paco gave him a nod as Lester opened the door and got out, he turned and looked back inside. "You ready Alex?"

Alex started to move and she felt Joe's thumb push on her neck applying slight pressure. He released her and got out and looked out the garage opening and then back inside the SUV. "Come on." Joe told her. He looked at Tommy, "Give me a minute."

Alex got out of the SUV and Joe put his hand back on her neck as they followed Lester to the elevator. He leaned down so he was close to Alex's ear. "I want you to think about what I said. If you want to teach karate, I'm all for it. But I won't give my permission for my daughter to go back into the same school where she was taken advantage of."

"I might not be your daughter." Alex said.

"We'll know soon enough and you know where I stand on this issue. That isn't going to change." Joe said.

The elevator door opened and Lester stepped in. Joe released Alex and she stepped inside and looked back out at Joe. Joe tossed Lester the controller to Alex's ankle monitor. "Your shift," he told Lester and then looked at Alex. "Next time you see me, I'll make sure you know exactly who you are. That's a promise."

POV Change

Joe watched as the elevator door closed and as soon as it did he hung his head. _Shit! That little shit is just like me. _He turned and went back to the SUV and climbed in. Joe gave Tommy the address to where the records were kept and eased back into the seat.

"How long do you think this will take?" Tommy asked.

"A couple of hours or possibly through the night until morning." Joe answered.

Joe rubbed his face with his hands trying to get the feeling of dread to go away that had settled in his stomach. _I've never been more afraid than I am right now. She's just like me and God help me. My parents couldn't control me, how the hell am I going to be able to control her. Jesus she's going to be wild._

Paco turned and looked back at Joe, "Records aren't that hard to find."

Joe looked up. "These will be that hard to find. They were deliberately tampered with to hide her identity."

Paco looked over to Tommy. "Maybe we should call in more guys, get this done quicker."

"We aren't authorized for that. Let's just see when we get there and then we can call in reinforcements if needed." Tommy stated.

The SUV pulled behind the back of the records storage facility. Tommy turned it off and looked at Morelli. "Stay here for a minute, let us get a good look at what I'm going to have to get us into. I need to disable some systems if they have any up."

Joe nodded. He watched as Tommy and Paco slinked off into the dusk. Night was starting to fall and he could see the storm clouds rolling in off the Pacific. He got out of the SUV and leaned against it. He was nervous, he had never broken into a place like this for the sake of himself. It had always been before when he was working and he justified his actions. This time he knew he was stepping over the line where his job was concerned, but he had to know. He had to find out exactly who Alex's mother was and he couldn't wait until the morning to find out.

The pop of a tire hitting a pot hole grabbed his attention and Joe jerked his head off in that direction. He saw the dark colored Acura two lots over as it circled around the buildings, its headlights off. Joe hated the slight rancid taste that started filling his mouth, he moved back to the front of the SUV. He didn't like the feeling he was getting from that car. His cop senses were on edge. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed dispatch, he told them about a suspicious vehicle in the business lots and gave a description of the car as best as he could see it from where it was parked by the dumpsters. Dispatch said they would send a unit over. Joe hung up his cell. Tommy came back around the building and came over to Joe and looked over to where Joe was still watching.

"What's up?" Tommy asked softly as the first drops of rain started to fall.

"Not sure, just a bad feeling. A unit is coming by. I suggest you move the SUV where it can't be spotted." Joe said.

"Door on the side is open. The security units have been disabled. We have some time until the relays reset. I'll meet you inside."

Joe moved to the side of the building as Tommy got in the SUV and moved it. Joe met Paco just inside the door. They were in the main storage room.

"Sweet place, the security stinks here though. The company that runs it doesn't look too hard into alarm switches going off and back on." Paco told him.

When Tommy walked through the door he turned and locked it to reset the alarm but turned off the motion sensors. Joe led them as best he could back to the old coot's office to get the key. He found it hanging beside the door and took it down. His gut was still churning and his mind kept going back to the Acura and he couldn't explain why it had unsettled him so. He had hated having these feelings, but it came with the job. He led them back to where the old files were and unlocked the gate. He moved to the desk that still held the folder and showed them the numbers and how to read the bottom of the papers to which file he wanted.

They set out to work with each splitting up and flipping through the pages looking for the record that would tell them who Alex was.

POV Change

Alex and Lester exited the elevator, he looked at Alex. "You want to grab something to eat?"

"Why not?" Alex said.

Lester moved towards the break room. Alex stopped. "I'm gonna change first." She turned and then headed up the stairs to the fourth floor. Lester followed her upstairs and then let her inside the room she was staying in. Alex came back out five minutes later in a black tank top that had eat shit written on it, with a pair of faded black gi bottoms, that looked more like jeans from the use and wear it had gone through. She had her hair pulled back and braided instead of the curls that had been there moments before.

She looked at Lester. "What?"

"Nothing." Lester stated. He couldn't help it that he thought she looked more like a little street punk dressed that way. They went back downstairs and Lester opened the door to the break room.

Lester got a grin on his face as he saw Bella digging in the refrigerator. Jose was sitting at the break room table patting the back of Rodriguez. "It was my fault, I should've kept a better eye on Booboo."

"What happen to Booboo?" Lester asked.

Lester realized his mistake when Rodriguez went into a crying fit. Jose kept patting his back. "Booboo broke into the locked goods cabinet and got his fix on a bunch of TastyKakes and sweets. He died three hours ago. The vet said it was a heart attack due to sugar rush."

"It was just too much for his little system." Rodriguez said through gulps of air and his crying.

"Sorry about that." Lester said.

Bella came back out of the refrigerator with a salad and water. "Hello Lester."

"Hello Bella, how have you been?" Lester asked.

"Moo'" Alex said in a hardened tone.

Lester turned and looked at her, this was the first time he had ever heard her use ghetto. "I'll move when I'm ready."

"Carlos paying BG's now? He trying to clean up the world one at a time?" Bella asked.

"You some slit frog?" Alex asked.

Lester grabbed Alex's tank top and moved her to the wall. "Watch your mouth."

"What's a slit frog?" Bella asked.

Lester was looking into Alex's ice blue eyes. "You don't want to know Bella." _I'm not telling Bella Alex just asked her if she was a sleeping whore who jumped from bed to bed._

Rodriguez pulled his head off the table. "I can't believe Booboo is dead." He wailed.

"Who's Booboo?" Alex asked.

"Booboo was Rodriguez' pet spider monkey." Jose said. "Come on Rodriguez. Let's get you upstairs."

Lester turned and went over to the refrigerator and heard Alex.

"Lay off Ruby Red." Alex growled. Lester turned in time to see Alex yank her arm away from Bella.

"That's it." Lester growled. "I told you to watch your mouth." He moved over to Alex and reached to grab her.

Bella stood up. "Back off Lester. This little piece of shit baby gansta has a problem with me and I'll settle it."

Lester moved over to the counter and leaned against it. _Bella does not have a clue what Alex is. Damn! She shouldn't have changed into those clothes. It's like she morphed into a little street hoodlum._

"I ain't no BG, TG, or Fangsta either." Alex growled at Bella.

Lester watched as Bella came up to Alex, Alex had Bella by a good three inches. Bella was a short, hot head, Italian woman. Bella had Alex by about twenty pounds though.

"Then quit talking like a little thug. If you aren't a baby gansta, or tiny one, or a female one; then why the hell are you talking like it and using their slang?" Bella asked. "What is Ruby Red?"

Alex smirked. "A bitch."


	44. Chapter 44

Bella reached up to slap Alex, Alex didn't see it coming because she did it on Alex's left side and made contact with her face. Alex felt the sting in her left cheek and turned back and glared at Bella.

"You wanna get it on?" Alex growled.

Alex saw Lester raise an eyebrow.

"You little piece of shit." Bella reared back her hand again.

Alex had moved her head so she had more of Bella in view and saw what she did. Alex stepped into a back stance. She blocked the slap and wrapped her arm around Bella's and grabbed the blouse Bella had on. Alex brought her right fist up and connected with Bella's face as she drove her knee into Bella's gut. Bella went limp as the air rushed out of her lungs and Alex dropped her to the floor and Alex stepped back into defensive tiger stance.

"Don't start shit you can't finish." Alex growled out.

Bella looked at Alex with a grin on her face. Alex didn't see the gun until Bella had it out and pointing at her. Alex's heart was racing as she looked at the barrel of the gun. She heard a click, Alex's head snapped up in Lester's direction.

"Bella put the gun away." Lester said calmly.

"Who is this kid?" Bella asked him.

"Put the gun away. You shoot her and Carlos will be all over your ass along with a few more people." Lester said.

The door to the break room opened and Alex looked over to see Jose walk back in free of Rodriguez. He looked around the room. "What's going on?" Jose asked.

Alex looked back at Bella on the floor the revolver still aimed at her head. Her heart pounded in her chest. She looked at Bella's brown eyes, there wasn't much to see. Alex didn't like her, she couldn't put her finger on it, but Bella wasn't someone she wanted to get to know. She felt that getting to know this woman would be like rolling around in a field full of poison ivy and the rash would spread to areas that she didn't want exposed.

"What makes her so special?" Bella asked, not lowering the gun.

Jose moved and stood in front of Alex. "She's my client. Now quit being the little bitch you can be and put the gun away."

Alex couldn't see what she was doing, but she heard the latch of a safety being clicked back into place. She looked around Jose and saw Lester putting his gun back into the small of his back. Alex saw Bella and she was now getting off the floor.

"Your client? Since when did you start lowering your standards Jose?" Bella asked.

"I've never lowered my standards. Now quit being a bitch. I told you going to Italy was a wrong move for you. What did you do? Buy into all that bullshit they blew up your ass." Jose said.

"It wasn't a wrong move. Do you think I'm fool enough to fall for their bullshit?" Bella asked after she sat down and started picking at the salad before her. "I don't have to justify anything to you Jose."

"You've changed Bella." Lester said as he started walking over to Alex.

Alex moved out from behind Jose. Alex watched as Bella looked up at Lester. "What did you expect Lester? I lived over there for five years with Enrico Shiropolli. Why do you think I wanted to come home?"

Alex's eyes narrowed as she looked at Bella, she knew who Enrico was. She had heard Shiropolli talk about his father several times. Talked about the woman his father had been seeing. _What was her name? Could this been who Shiropolli was talking about that stayed with Enrico? G, it started with a G. Gia, no that wasn't it. Giada._

"Giada?" Alex questioned.

Bella's head snapped as she glared at Alex. "Che cosa la scopata? Chi vi ha ditto quel nome?" (What the fuck? Who told you that name?)

Alex took in a slow breath, her Italian wasn't that great. She understood what Bella asked, but she wasn't sure how to form the words in Italian. "Il figlio del Enrico mi ha detto. Nuova femmina suo del padre detto stava provando a sostituire la sua madre." (Enrico's son told me. Said his father's new bitch was trying to take the place of his mother.) Alex said as she had hesitated through parts of it.

Bella stood placing both hands on the table leaning over it. "Voi poco shithead. Non conosco che cosa il victor vi ha detto, ma avete bisogno della conservazione che la vostra bocca ha chiuso circa me, o la chiuderò permanente." (You little shithead. I don't know what Victor told you, but you need keep your mouth shut about me, or I'll shut it permanently.)

Alex flexed her hands into fists. Jose stepped in front of Alex. "Lester, take Alex out of here. Bella, you need to watch who you are threatening."

Alex went with Lester, but not until she sent Bella an Italian hand gesture she knew Bella would understand. She felt Lester's hand on the back of her neck and moved away from him so he wasn't touching her.

"So you speak Italian?" Lester asked.

"A little. It wasn't hard to pick it up when Lacy was arguing back and forth with Michael. That was what Michael spoke most of the time when he was around." Alex said.

"Are you still hungry?" Lester asked.

"No, I lost my appetite, being threatened kind of does that to a person." Alex said.

POV Change

Stephanie looked over toward the door and saw her mother and grandmother standing in the doorway.

"I'm setting extra plates." Ellen yelled out.

"We're going to have to stay and eat aren't we?" Ranger asked.

"Yes. At least there will be desert." Stephanie said.

"You better hurry, the ham will be too tough to eat, and I need to go to the viewing." Grandma shouted.

Stephanie groaned. She opened the door and had one foot out as she looked back at Ranger. "It can't be that bad, besides, you'll be fed."

Ranger opened his door, "I'll be defiling my body."

Stephanie got out and shut the door. "But at least you'll be more human."

Ranger came around the car and put his arm over Stephanie's shoulder. They headed up the walkway. "I'm all human Babe."

Stephanie walked inside, she didn't see where Grandma had gotten off to. She heard a slight yelp and spun around. Ranger had his hands on his ass.

"I'll have to tell Betty that I was right and she was wrong, his ass is as hard as two bricks." Grandma said.

"Mother!" Ellen shouted.

"Jesus H. Christ!" Frank could be heard from the living room.

Stephanie gave Ranger what she hoped appeared to be an I'm sorry face. She could see he was looking at Grandma with those eyes that she had attributed to sending people to third world countries. Stephanie went and grabbed Grandma by her elbow; trying to divert Ranger from killing Grandma and making her father's dreams come true. "So who is laid out?"

"That poor Victoria Lacy Ramono. I want to see Joe's lover, he had a child with her. No wonder you broke up with him. Smart move, this one is a lot better, and he has a better package." Grandma said.

"She wasn't Joe's lover Grandma." Stephanie said as she glanced back at Ranger who had a small grin growing in the corner of his mouth.

'Better package,' Ranger mouthed to Stephanie.

'Doomsday.' Stephanie mouthed back.

"Then it's not true?" Grandma asked. "Shucks, I wanted to see her. I heard they had a closed casket. If she isn't the one Joe slept with then who is?"

"Nobody knows." Stephanie said not being entirely truthful.

"I heard it could be that girl that disappeared and was found twelve years ago. Do you think it could be her? I heard from Betty that Joe had a thing for her, and Joe had been seeing her before she came up missing. Mama and Papa Thebes done everything to try to find her. I thought Papa Thebes would sell Crystals Pizza House after Mama died. I saw him last week, he said it's all he has left now, he said it didn't feel right just selling out."

"I don't know if it was Sarah Thebes or not." Stephanie lied skillfully.

They sat down at the table and Frank took his normal seat picking up his knife and fork and looked at his plate. Stephanie made sure Grandma sat in her normal place and she sat next to Ranger.

"Well, I'm just glad you brought the better looking one to dinner again. You aren't holding out on Stephanie are you? About any children you don't know about are you?" Grandma asked Ranger.

"Mother! Come help me in the kitchen and leave Ranger alone." Ellen shouted.

POV Change

Joe pulled out a sheet of paper, he had found another piece of the birth record. It was the first page, he started reading it. Patient's name was Sarah Athena Thebes. His hands started shaking, and he started sweating even though the building was cool. _Jesus Sarah! Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you let me know you were pregnant? What am I going to do Sarah? _

"You okay Morelli?" Tommy asked.

Joe turned and looked at him. Joe couldn't help the crack in his voice as he responded. "Yeah."

"You sure about that? What did you find?" Tommy asked.

"I know who her mother is." Joe set the paper down and then ran his hands through his hair. "Jesus I'm her father." He turned around and leaned up against the boxes.

Tommy walked over and looked at him. "I think you better sit down before you pass out. It's not that bad being a Dad. It's actually a lot of fun at times."

Joe looked at him, "You have kids?"

Tommy chuckled, "Yeah I have two. Twin girls, they're turning thirteen. You have your good days and you have your bad days. It's worth it. Don't sweat it. Alex isn't a bad kid, just don't panic. All new fathers want to panic. When you go back to get her, take a deep breath and don't show any fear. Kids can smell fear, it's like they are attuned to it, you walk in there being afraid that you aren't going to be able to do the fatherly thing and Alex will know it." Tommy gave him a pat on the shoulder, "Welcome to fatherhood."

Joe watched as he moved back to the boxes he was looking in. They only needed two more pieces to the fourteen page document now. He looked at his watch, they had been here for an hour. Tommy and Paco had found more of the birth record than he had. Joe reached up and ran his hands through his hair again thinking on what Tommy had said.

_No fear! Yeah right, I'm afraid I'm gonna mess up and screw this all up. I'm in way over my head. I'm scared shitless right now, my whole world has changed. I'm personally responsible for another's well being. _

Joe was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the alarm go off at the same time the sprinklers went off. Joe looked at Tommy and Paco. Joe turned and scooped up the papers to the birth record they had found.

"What the hell is going on?" Paco shouted.

"Not sure." Tommy said.

The three of them moved to the cage door that they had come through. Joe reached to open it and it wouldn't budge. He looked down at the lock and noticed a metal strip had been broken off in it. They had been on the other side of the door and hadn't heard anything. Joe looked over to Tommy.

"Do you smell that?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah I do." Joe said.

The burning smell of paper was starting to come over their way. Joe started looking around. "There has to be a way out of this cage."

Paco took off in one direction and Tommy in the other. Joe put the birth record in his shirt so he could have both hands. He looked at the lock on the cage door, he put his hand through the bars and tried to reach the bit of metal that was sticking out. _God! I know I haven't been in church for awhile. I know I haven't always been the good catholic like I'm supposed to be. I need you to help me find a way out of here, it's not fair to Alex, she needs me, and I need her. I promise I'll go to church, just help me get out of here so I can get to my daughter._

POV Change

Blade watched from his vantage point across the street and on top of the roof as the flames started licking the records storage facility. His grin was spreading even more, he hadn't seen the three men come out. He had considered it a stroke of luck that he had gotten inside without them aware of him doing so. Blade didn't like the fact that he had been spotted in the Acura. He would have to leave the car, he couldn't go back to it. The police had come and the car had been towed away, that was a loss he was willing to accept. In chess you had to sacrifice pieces in order to gain the ultimate prize. So what if he was down a vehicle, he had Morelli trapped like a cornered rat. He closed his eyes as the adrenaline coursed through his veins. A great satisfaction settled over him, it wouldn't be long and he'd have Medea. He was going to find great satisfaction as he ripped her heart out of her chest.

The sirens wailed in the distance. Blade could tell by the rage of the fire that they wouldn't be able to control it. The whole place would be engulfed and they would just have to let it burn, let the mistake burn with it as well. He tried to figure out how they even found out about the other child. Blade couldn't see how he had failed at hiding who Alex really was. _Now they will never know!_


	45. Chapter 45

Ranger put down the fork as he heard his phone ring.

"Yo." He said into the cell phone.

"Tommy and Paco's cells just went out." Torres said.

"What do you mean went out?" Ranger asked.

"The tracking on the cells just went dead at the same time. They don't have a signal coming from them anymore."

"Give me the address." Ranger said.

Stephanie looked at Ranger. Ranger shook his head. "On my way." He hung up his cell phone. He looked over at Mrs. Plum. "It was a lovely dinner, but Stephanie and I need to leave." He stood up and pulled out Stephanie's chair.

"What is it?" Stephanie asked.

"I'll tell you in the car." Ranger said.

Stephanie turned and started to follow Ranger. He looked back at her. "The slam books."

Stephanie turned and raced up the stairs. When she came back down she had a medium sized box with her. Ellen plum came into the hall holding a brown paper bag. "Just incase."

"Thank you." Ranger said. He took the box from Stephanie and Stephanie grabbed the bag of food and they headed to the car.

"What is it now?"

"Tommy and Paco dropped off the radar." Ranger said as he put the box into the back seat.

"Weren't they with Joe?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah Babe, they were." Ranger got behind the wheel and started the car. He took off from the curb after he turned on the lights and headed to where the records' building was.

By the time they got there the block was already roped off. Ranger and Stephanie went under the crime tape. Ranger followed Stephanie and when she was stopped by one of the officers she knew he would fill them in on what was going on.

"Real doozey of a blazer we got going. The fire chief said they can't put it out. They have to let it burn out."

"Do they know if anyone was in there?" Stephanie asked.

"Haven't been able to tell." The cop said.

Ranger snagged Stephanie and they walked away from the cop. "Not a good idea to let on that you think people are in there Babe."

"This is Joe and two of your men." Stephanie said.

"I know that Babe." Ranger said.

Ranger led them back through the crime tap and his phone rang again. "Yo."

"Two blocks away is the SUV to the south."

"Good to know." Ranger hung up the phone. "Let's go to the SUV."

Ranger moved back to his car and got back in. He made a u-turn and then went to the south two blocks over and started looking for the SUV. He saw it and pulled up next to it. Ranger got out and looked inside, he didn't see anyone. He turned around and started looking toward where the fire could be seen not to far off. Stephanie was right beside him.

"They can't be dead. They just can't be." Stephanie said.

"Keep that attitude. Stay here, incase they show up. I'll be right back." Ranger started walking into the shadows of the building that was blocking the fire. He looked to and fro, then he saw it, he saw a foot. Ranger ran over to the foot and knelt down. It was Paco, he was passed out, but not dead.

"Babe! Get over here." Ranger told her. "Just follow my voice."

Ranger pulled Stephanie down beside Paco. "Stay with Paco. I'll find the others."

Ranger pulled out his cell and sent orders. He would have men here in short order. He found Tommy on the side of the building, he had a few burns, but was still breathing. Ranger moved again and walked around the building. He saw Joe lying in the parking lot, Ranger ran over to him. It was hot and sparks from the flames were flying all over the place. Ranger grabbed his arms and started dragging him back over to where Tommy was. Once he had him on the side of the building Tommy was coughing and trying to clear his lungs.

"Take it easy." Ranger told him.

"Fire...trapped, medal broken off in the lock." Tommy coughed and coughed.

Ranger looked at Tommy. "You guys were locked in?" Ranger asked.

Tommy shook his head. "Didn't find everything, but enough."

Joe started stirring, Ranger looked back down at him. "Help me with Morelli."

Ranger stood up and took Joe under one arm and Tommy grabbed the other. They made their way back to where Stephanie was. Paco was sitting up, he looked at Ranger. "That fire had to be started, it accelerated way to fast."

Joe was coughing. Stephanie went to Joe and lifted his head. "You okay?"

"Yes," Joe choked out and started coughing again.

Ranger saw the headlights coming down the street. He moved out from under Joe and went to the street. When his other SUV stopped two of his men got out Ranger went to the back and opened the door. He pulled out the small oxygen tanks and walked back over to the three men. He handed Joe one and gave the other to Tommy who was coughing as much as Joe.

After a few minutes, Joe pulled the mask back off. "I didn't find the piece of the birth record that gave me her name."

Stephanie looked at him. "I know her name, it's Medea Alexis Morelli."

Ranger watched as Joe look at Stephanie. "How did you?"

"Slam books, Lacy wrote it all down in other peoples slam books." Stephanie told him.

"Torres, drive the other SUV. Take Tommy home, make sure Paco gets back to the office." Torres nodded and Tommy and Paco left along with both of the SUVs.

"What all is in there?" Joe asked her.

Ranger watched as Stephanie shook her head. "I think you better read it for yourself Morelli."

Joe followed both of them back to Ranger's car. He got in the back, the smell of food overwhelmed him. "Been to your mom and dads?" Joe asked.

"Take it, but you better save me the dessert. I didn't get any." Stephanie said.

"God forbid we deprive you of sugar." Joe said. Ranger chuckled as he started the car.

Stephanie gave him the pen and turned on the light and handed him the slam books. She flipped to the first page and flashed the light. Ranger saw Joe look at the words.

It was a quiet ride; Ranger just drove in no particular direction. He just put space between him and the fire. He heard Joe swear off and on, Joe started switching between Italian and English. He saw Joe toss the slam books back into the box.

"Pull over." Joe insisted.

Ranger pulled over and Joe jumped out. He walked away from the car and bent over. Stephanie reached back for the slam books and Ranger stilled her arm. "Babe, I don't want another person sick in my car. Don't read it, please."

Joe opened the door and got back in, he saw where Stephanie's hand was and Ranger's hand on her arm. "I wouldn't read it." Joe told her.

Joe turned and looked out the window. "Take me to the station. I'm booking this all as evidence. Then I'm getting my daughter's birth certificate and I'm coming to get her."

Ranger released Stephanie's arm. He drove towards the station. "You want her packed tonight?"

"Yes." Joe said.

POV Change

Alex lay in the bed. Ranger had come back several hours ago and told her she needed to pack her things. She was now looking up at the ceiling with her hands behind her head and her legs crossed. He hadn't told her why, and Alex looked at her bags. It wasn't like she ever really unpacked. She had counted the tiles on the ceiling and new exactly how many across there were as well as how many down. Alex heard voices outside the door.

"What do you mean she has to see an optometrist?"

Alex knew that was Joe's voice.

"She has problems with her peripheral vision. On her left side, she needs it checked to make sure the damage isn't lasting."

Alex knew that was Lester's voice.

"How bad is it?" Joe asked.

"The doctor thinks it's just from the swelling, but he wanted her to be checked. The visit is already scheduled. They're expecting her." Lester said. "I don't see why you can't wait till the Judge makes a decision instead of taking her now."

"She's my daughter Santos. We'll show back up for Court, but I want my daughter."

Alex heard the door unlock. Then the steps and someone bang into the wall. She smiled, it had to Joe. Lester knew the layout of the room. She had the lights off and he was walking in the dark.

"Alex?" Joe asked.

"In here." Alex said.

She turned her head and saw his silhouette in the door frame.

"I'm taking you home, Kitten."

Alex turned her head back straight and stared back up at the ceiling. "You can't take me anywhere yet. I'm not in your custody."

She felt the bed sink and then closed her eyes as Joe found the lamp by the bed and turned it on. Alex kept her breathing as even as she could. She didn't understand why she was starting to feel afraid but she was. She felt his hand rub her cheek.

"You will be soon. I want you with me now. I lost enough of your childhood, I don't want to loose anymore of it. Not even a second, Alex."

Alex opened her eyes and looked at him. She studied his face, he looked haggard. Not like he had when she first saw him at Crystals. His face looked pained and worried, but he had slight smile on it.

"Is that my name?" She asked.

"You're middle name is Alexis." Joe took his hand away from her cheek and opened the folder he had. He pulled out a piece of paper and laid it on her stomach.

Alex picked up the paper and drank in every word that was on her birth certificate. She looked at the date, she would be fifteen tomorrow. She looked at Joe and laid the birth certificate down.

"Why did she name me Medea?" Alex asked.

Joe picked up the birth certificate and put it back in the folder. He laid the folder on the night stand then placed his right hand beside her left side. He leaned down a little. Alex was watching his eyes. She could still see the worry in them.

"Your mother is Greek. Medea is an ancient Greek name. Medea was a sorceress. I think she named you that because she had Athena as her middle name and it is also an ancient Greek name. Maybe it was something her family did. I'm not sure. We could ask your Grandfather if he knows."

"I have a Grandfather?"

Joe reached up with his left hand and rubbed her cheek again. "You have a lot of family you need to meet. You aren't alone anymore Alex, and they won't treat you the way Lacy and Michael did. I'm not going to treat you the way they did."

Alex looked away from him. _He says that, but what if he really does treat me like Lacy and Michael did? Damn it! Why am I so afraid of that? _

"Kitten, you don't have to meet anyone until you are ready. I'd rather we didn't for awhile. I want to spend time together with just you and me. I think we need that, I know I do. I don't want to have to share you right now, I want to get to know you."

Alex took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Kitten, what's wrong?" Joe asked.

Alex could feel his hand as it still rubbed her cheek.

"Tell me. I can't help if I don't know what it is."

Alex turned her head to look back at him and saw not only worry laced within his eyes but concern. "I'm afraid."

"Of what?"

"I don't want to be hurt anymore. I can't take it anymore."

She watched as Joe closed his eyes. "No one is going to hurt you. I won't let them."

Alex saw him open his eyes again. "I gotta know you won't do it."

Joe smiled at her. "I'm the last person you need to worry about hurting you. You're mine, and what is mine I protect. We may argue and we may not see eye to eye on things, but I would never hurt you. I'm not out to fuck you over like you've had done to you before. I can't show you any of that if you don't trust me. I need you to give me a chance Kitten. We both need it. If you want to go to China, I'll sign the papers that Jose wants signed. If that is what it takes to get a little bit of your trust then I'll do it."

Alex moved and sat up. "How big is your place?"

"You'd have your own room. You might have to share it with Bob every now and then, but it'd be yours."

"Who's Bob?"

"My dog. He's a nut, but I love him. He's got big floppy ears. He'll like you. He likes everyone."

Alex looked at her bags and then back to Joe. "I can't go unless Lester comes."

She saw Joe bow his head. "Why Santos, Alex?" he looked back up at her.

"I'm in his custody until the Court releases me. We would all get into a lot of trouble if I just left with you and didn't stay with Lester. I don't know about you, but I don't want my ass in the sling with the Courts again."

Joe stood up and grabbed the folder off the night stand. He looked at her bags. "Is this it? You have anything anywhere else?"

Alex moved and sat on the edge of the bed. "That's all I got here, other than what's left at the apartment."

Joe stooped down and picked up one bag and tossed it over his shoulder, "Grab your other bags, we'll pick up Santos on the way out."

Alex got off the bed and picked up the other two bags. "I thought you didn't like him."

Joe looked back at her. "I may not like him, I trust him, sort of, but if it means I get you tonight, then he's coming."


	46. Chapter 46

Alex sat on the bed in Joe's guest room. He had told her last night that it was now her room. She looked down beside her, Bob lay beside her. Alex stroked his head between his ears; he had stayed in her room all night. The only time he left was when Joe had come and got him to take him out that morning. Then Bob had thundered back up the stairs and pushed the door back open to get back on the bed with her. She looked up at Lester who was leaning on the door frame.

"Why did you really want me to come last night? Morelli told me something about the Courts but that doesn't sound like you." Lester said, "And you've been up here almost all morning, you haven't even eaten. What's up?"

Alex looked back down at Bob as he rolled onto his back exposing his underside. She ran her hand along his chest and over his stomach. "I'm afraid okay."

"What are you afraid of?" Lester asked. "Can't be Bob. He's been all over you since you came here."

"I'm not afraid of the dog." Alex looked back up at Lester. "I don't know if I can do this. All of it, I've never had a family before. He's my real father, the guy who I thought was my father he..."

Lester moved from the door and came and sat on the bed beside her leaning up against the wall like she was doing. "Morelli won't hurt you. Is that what you are afraid of?"

"How do you know he won't?"

Lester moved his hand and touched her chin so she would look at him. Alex looked into his green eyes. "Are you asking for my advice?"

"Yes."

"Because he's a good cop. You haven't been downstairs yet. He's called the Courts; he's already called the attorneys. He's faxed over the information to the Judge so they have your real name. The death certificate that was issued by the state is being revoked. Your father has been working his ass off all morning to make sure that you exist. Give him a chance; I think he'll surprise you."

"They had me as dead?" Alex asked him.

"Yes, the state had you as being dead. Anything else you want to know?" Lester asked.

Alex moved her head so her face wasn't touching his hand and got off the bed. She walked over to the dresser and started pulling out drawers, she hadn't even unpacked. She hadn't made it real yet.

"He won't let me go back and teach where I was." Alex spun around. "He wants me to go to another school."

Lester moved so he was on the edge of the bed now. "He doesn't want you near Spragget."

Alex nodded.

"I can't say I blame him Alex. He's trying to protect you."

Bob jumped off the bed and started barking when he heard the doorbell and took off out of the room.

Alex watched him go and then looked back at Lester. "So you think he's right? I don't want to have to do my gups over again. That's what's gonna happen if I go to another school. I don't want to have to take my junior black belt test again. I went two and a half hours for my black belt. It's not fair, I don't want to have to do that test again when I have to turn around and do the same thing for my adult black."

"Shit, is that what you went through to get that black belt?" Lester asked.

"Yes, it's the best school in Trenton, and the hardest. So what if James is there, I can handle James. James isn't the only instructor there, Master Jung comes in from New York to sit on the test boards, it was Master Jung who tested me and it was Master Jung who gave the okay for me to teach. James may run the school, but he's under Master Jung."

"Have you not told Morelli this?"

"He told me he wouldn't change his mind, ever. I don't want to have to go through a different school, because I don't want to lose Master Jung."

Alex watched as Lester stood up. "I'll talk to Morelli, but you are going to have to tell him this Alex. You have to make him see this, see how much you went through and how much you'll be losing. Maybe instead of talking to Spragget, he needs to be talking to Master Jung."

"What if he doesn't change his mind?" Alex asked.

"We won't know until we talk to him." Lester put his hand out. "You're bound to be hungry. Come on, let's get you something to eat."

Alex put her hand in his and followed Lester out of her room and down the stairs. She heard Joe talking at the dining table.

"Judge Moore wants us there in two hours. We can do that. So the results have come in?"

Alex looked at Joe; he still had the same clothes on that he had on last night. He looked up and Alex could see the stubble on his face and the growth that had come in. His hair was a mess and he was surrounded by paperwork all over the table.

"Thank you. We'll see you in two hours Mrs. Anderson." Joe hung up the phone. "You hungry?"

"I could eat something." Alex said letting go of Lester's hand and walking into the dinning room.

"Man your dog is nuts." Alex saw Jose coming out of the kitchen with a wet rag trying to wipe off Bob slobber off his pants.

"I see you met Bob." Alex said to Jose snickering. "What are you doing here?"

"Your father asked me to come." Jose threw the wet rag on the table. "He has to sign the contract papers so you can be my client."

Alex looked at Joe. Joe had a pen in one hand and the papers in the other. He was looking at Alex. "Not a bad deal here. Any proceeds you get will be going into an account you can't touch until you're eighteen."

"Why can't I have it now?" Alex asked.

"Because you're my responsibility till you are eighteen." Joe put the papers down and signed his name to it and passed them over to Jose. "How soon can you get a plane to China?"

Jose reached inside his back pocket and pulled out the tickets. "You're already set. Plane leaves at nine." He tossed Joe the tickets and picked up the contract. He looked at Alex. "You and I have a meeting scheduled as soon as you get back."

"Great, can't wait." Alex said as she walked around them and headed into the kitchen.

She heard Lester start talking to Joe about the karate school. Alex started pulling things out of the refrigerator. She was eating a banana when she saw Joe walk into the kitchen. He reached up and opened a cabinet and pulled down a glass.

"You put him up to this didn't you?" Joe asked.

"You never asked me why I even wanted to stay there. You just told me I couldn't." Alex told him.

Joe reached around her and opened the refrigerator and pulled out the juice, he poured a glass and handed it to her and grabbed another glass.

"And going to another school would be bad?" Joe asked. "I can't see it that way."

"Yes it would be bad. I'd go backwards on my belts by four gups. That's two years to do all over again. Then I'd have to go through the black belt test all over again. Even then I wouldn't be assured of a teaching spot." Alex downed the juice and set the glass back down.

"Two years doesn't sound real bad."

Alex groaned.

"You're being unreasonable." Alex told him.

"Unreasonable? I just signed a contract so you can get paid to talk to a Psychologist so he can write novels about your life. You have to give me something Alex, you just got China." Joe told her.

"China is one month, not two years I'd have to repeat, to earn those four gups back. That's too much to give up." Alex retorted.

Joe drank the juice and took his glass and hers and washed both of them and then put them in the strainer. He moved to the other side of the kitchen and leaned back on the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. "You have me, you have China, give me those two years and let me watch you earn that black belt back."

"Why can't you just go talk to Master Jung about James?" Alex asked him striking the same pose across from him.

Joe started grinning. "No, that makes it too easy on you." He moved over to her and placed his hands on the counter beside her. "I missed a lot of your childhood just give me this one thing. Let me see what it takes to do what you did and why you love it so much."

Alex narrowed her eyes as she looked in Joe's brown ones. "I'll do it on one condition."

"What's that?" Joe asked with a smirk on his face.

"You have to enroll in the same school." Alex said with satisfaction.

"Done." Joe said. "We'll look into schools as soon as we get back and find one that is as good as the one you were in." He kissed the top of her head and moved away. "I'm not totally unreasonable, but don't think you can negotiate everything."

Alex watched as he walked out of the kitchen. "I'm going to shower. We have to be in Court soon."

"Shit." Alex moved back to the refrigerator and pulled stuff out to make a sandwich.

"Didn't quite go the way you wanted?" Jose asked.

Alex started making her sandwich. "He wasn't supposed to say yes."

Jose laughed.

Alex gave him a death glare. "Go to hell."

Jose laughed even more. "Just isn't your day today." He walked out of the kitchen. "Tell your father I'll call when you two get back."

Lester walked into the kitchen and started opening cabinets he pulled down a plate and handed it to her. He found some chips in the pantry and handed them to her along with some cookies.

"I told you he wouldn't change his mind." Alex said.

"You were right, but look at it this way. You'll be ahead of him in belts, so when he's on the floor in the dojo, he'll have to do what you say." Lester said.

Alex looked at Lester. "I didn't think about that."

"Got to give it to him though. He's willing to do what you like just so he can get to know you better Alex." Lester moved out of the kitchen. "Think about that."

The ride to the Court went faster than what Alex had thought it would. She walked in with Joe and Lester and they met with both of their lawyers just outside the courtroom. Everything felt more like a dream to Alex at this point. Being called in, the courtroom clearing out, and sitting behind the table. Alex had been lost in thought and quiet every since that talk in the kitchen. She was trying to rationalize just how much Joe was going to change her life. She wondered how much she was changing his. She knew she was acting like a little bitch, but that was what kept her alive where she lived. Alex didn't look up until Judge Moore had hit the gavel down and closed the proceedings.

"You can go home to your father now. I hope I don't have to see you in my courtroom again." The Judge said.

Alex looked at Sharlene. "Well, we lost." Sharlene said.

Alex leaned back and looked at Joe, "I don't know about that. Maybe this loosing thing is a good thing."

She saw Sharlene move so she couldn't see Joe. "Take care you, and if you ever need a lawyer. Give me a call."

Alex watched as Sharlene picked up her briefcase and walked out. Joe came over and sat down beside her.

"You ready to go home and pack?" Joe asked.

"I'm ready to eat. That sandwich didn't last long. I'm still starved." Alex said.

"Come on, let's go feed you." Joe said and stood up. "Where do you want to eat, Miss Morelli?"

Alex stood up, "It doesn't matter, just as long as it's food."

POV Change

Joe watched as Alex stood at the plate glass window looking at the airplanes. The afternoon had gone by rather quickly, he was surprised at how fast he had packed and got everything done so he could get away with his daughter. He left his cell phone, pager, badge, and gun with his Chief. Bob had been taken to Stephanie to watch for a month. Everything had been cleaned out of the apartment Alex had lived in and her room had boxes that had to be unpacked when they got back. Joe pulled out the box he had in his pocket. He had stopped last night at a jeweler's place and had a watch engraved for Alex. Mooch had picked it up for him after he had gotten Alex's apartment all packed up.

He smiled at her, it was her birthday today, and she turned fifteen. Ranger had set them up with fake passports under different names. He said everything was in motion and the hotel was already in place. Joe waved to Alex to come back over to him when she had turned around. Alex came and sat down beside him.

"Happy Birthday Kitten." Joe said as he handed her the box.

Alex took the box and opened it. She saw the watch and took it out, she flipped it over to look at the back. It had Medea Alexis Morelli written on the inside along with from your father, Joe. Joe watched as Alex put it on.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." Joe told her.

"Now boarding, international air to China..."

Joe didn't bother listening to the rest of the flights. He stood up, they only had the two carry-ons. Joe picked them up, "That's us."

Alex stood up and took Joe's hand after he had offered it to her. Joe led them to the ticket taker and then they walked through the loading area. Joe didn't release Alex's hand until they came aboard the plane.

"First class sir. Turn to your right and up the stairs." The stewardess said.

"Thank you." Joe said.

Joe continued on until he was in the first class area. He had never seen a plane this nice nor as big as this one. Each seat was spread out enough to give you all the room you needed. He found their seats; there were three of them and a big woman was already sitting by the window. Joe looked at Alex who had her brows raised.

"Hello." Joe said.

Joe saw the woman's head turn. "Hello." Came the thick heavy Italian accent.

Joe opened the top and stowed the carry-ons on top. He bent down to whisper in Alex's ear. "Be nice, we have a long flight."

Alex shrugged her shoulders and then sat down in the seat next to the very fat woman. "Hello." Alex said and then turned to look at the monitors in front of her.

Joe sat down. "This won't be so bad. Look at all the time we have to talk."

POV Change

Blade looked out the window to his right. The lights had been turned off a few hours ago and the seats laid back on the international flight. He had broken into Ranger's computer system and found out what was going on with his prey. He spent most of the day setting up things in order for him to make this flight. He couldn't believe his luck, they didn't recognize him.

Blade turned his head and looked at his prey as she slept peacefully beside him. The body suit was weighting on him, as was the make-up, and the contacts were making his eyes itch. He had changed his features so much he felt like a different person. He really wanted to rip it off, but it had come in handy. He had spent most of the time quiet as he listened to Joe and Alex talk. He could hear the parental concern in Joe's voice.

It made him sick knowing his prey was so close, he looked across Alex and saw Joe looking at him.

"You have a very lovely daughter," He said with his fake voice again.

"Thank you." Joe said. "First time to China?"

"No. My husband works in the Italian Embassy over there. I had to visit family over here, I'm going back home."

"Ah. How long have you lived there?" Joe asked.

"Four years. It's lovely. Pardon me for over hearing but I heard you are going to the Temple School in Beijing."

"Yes, it's only for a short time. Is it a good school?" Joe asked.

"One of the best, maybe we'll see each other sometime." Blade said.

"Maybe." Joe said and leaned back in his own seat.

_Only too soon it will be. Just a little longer my sweet._ Blade smiled at Alex and turned to look back out the window.

POV Change

Alex came out of the bathroom at the airport in China. Joe insisted on one of the airport staff going in with her. She came back out and looked at him cross.

"Why did I have to do that again? It was bad enough on the airplane that you insisted I have an escort to take a piss." Alex asked.

"Something isn't right." Joe put his hand on her neck. "I told you, I don't like this. I just can't put my finger on it."

Alex followed as Joe led them to a phone booth. He moved her so she was up against the wall and he was blocking her from view. "You know, I'm not two years old."

Joe looked at her. "I'm aware of that. Just humor me." He picked up the phone. "Italian Embassy please."

Alex crossed her arms, "If you think I want to spend anymore time around that fat tub of lard your crazy."

"Hush!" Joe commanded. "Yes, I'd like to speak with Monsieur Chardiea please. Thank you."

"Monsieur Chardiea, non lo conoscete ma ho speso appena un volo bello dall'America con la vostra moglie e lo ha invitato al pranzo, ma non è riuscito a dirmi un momento di venire." Joe said. (Monsieur Chardiea, you don't know me but I just spent a lovely flight from America with your wife and she invited me to dinner, but she failed to tell me a time to come.)

"Elemosino il vostro perdono. La mia moglie? Impossibile, non è stata mai in America. Chi è ancora questo?" Monsieur Chardiea responded. (I beg your pardon. My wife? Impossible, she has never been to America. Who is this again?)

Joe hung up the phone. He scanned the area he was at. He couldn't see her now, it was hard to miss a woman that large.

"Well?" Alex asked. "Please tell me we aren't going to dinner over there."

"Don't be silly." Joe took Alex's hand, "stay close. Don't let go of my hand whatever you do."

"Are you going to fill me in?" Alex asked.

"Do you know the woman who was sitting by us on the plane?" Joe asked as he weaved them out of the people in the airport.

"No." Alex said. "Why?"

"Later." Joe said.

Alex followed him to the baggage claim and Joe put her next to the counter as he looked for the bags. "Don't move."

Alex started looking around, she looked at Joe and could see the worry lines across his brow. His whole forehead was creased, the lines very visible. Alex turned to look right and saw the lady that was sitting next them on the plane ride. She blew a silent kiss her way and then pulled the gun out. Alex turned and dove towards Joe catching him in the side and they both went down to the floor. The sound of the gun cracked loudly in the airport. The man who was standing beside Joe fell to the floor blood spreading across his arm and onto the floor.

Alex saw Joe look at the man and then both his hands came up to her face as he made her look at him. "Was it her?"

"Yes." Alex said shakily.

Alex was rolled by Joe and he stood up first and pulled Alex up. He grabbed their two bags. "Get the carry-ons."

Alex grabbed the carry-ons. She could hear the police whistles as Chinese cops started running.

"Turn around and go. We didn't see anything." Joe told her.

Alex still couldn't believe this was happening. There wasn't anymore darts. The blood had been real, only too real. Alex was walking in a daze she didn't even remember getting out of the airport, or sitting in the cab to leave. The door was open now and she saw Joe's hand stretched out in front of her.

"Come on, Kitten. Stay with me here, now is not a good time to go into shock on me."

Alex took his hand. "How?"

"I'm not sure. Let's just get to our room and then we can figure out what to do next." Joe said.

Joe walked them inside as their bags were loaded on a trolley by one of the bell hops. Joe walked with Alex straight to the check in counter. Alex was vaguely aware of him giving the false name to the man at the counter and him saying that his wife was already in the room. Joe looked at Alex as they stepped in the elevator.

"Did Ranger say anything to you about this?" Joe asked her.

"About a wife? No, not that I remember." Alex said.

"Shit, I can't remember if he said that. The only thing I remember is he said he'd have someone in place."

Alex and Joe stepped out of the elevator and went to the room. Joe let Alex's hand go and started using the key fob to the door when it came open.

"I was beginning to worry about you two." Bella said.

"You?" Alex said. She turned and looked at Joe. "No way in hell I'm staying with this bitch."

"How is that to talk to your mother?" Bella said then she looked at Joe, "Ranger sent me ahead."

"I've got to call him." Joe looked at Alex. "Come on, we need to talk to Ranger. This won't be permanent."

Alex crossed her arms and walked past Joe and brushed up against Bella as hard as she could.

"Your room is two doors down on the left, why don't you go freshen up." Bella said.

Joe walked in behind Alex. "Where's the phone?"

"Over here." Bella said as she pointed to it.

Alex watched her as she tipped the bellhop and the bags were placed on the floor by the door. Alex walked over and grabbed her suitcase and headed to the room that Bella said was hers. She opened the door and walked inside and looked around. It wasn't bad. It was better than anyplace she had ever been in.

Alex placed the suitcase on the bed and then went to open the closet. Blade jumped and had his hand over Alex's mouth, the glove he had on was wet. Alex tried to scream, but it was no use, she had taken a deep breath and everything was starting to go hazy. He had pinned her to his chest, she tried to fight back but nothing was working like it should have.


	47. Chapter 47

Her head was pounding as her eyes fluttered open. The room swaying into focus as her stomach rolled.

"She's waking up."

Alex could hear Bella's voice. Alex turned her head, she could see Joe was in the chair stripped down to his boxers, he was tied to it. Alex closed her eyes, her head was so heavy and the bile was rising into her throat. She moved and rolled off the couch and lost what was in her stomach.

"Not doing too good there are you?" Bella asked.

Alex felt the back of her head being jerked up and she saw Blade squat down in front of her.

"You are a real pain in the ass. I was asked to take care of you and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Who?" Alex asked.

Blade smiled. "Victor asked me, but the order came from Enrico."

"Victor isn't in charge?" Alex asked.

"No you stupid idiot." Bella said as she pulled Alex's head back even further. "Victor is fish food. I had to have some reason to come home and Carlos fell for it. Jason had to have someone on the inside. Someone that Carlos wouldn't expect to betray him."

Alex looked at Blade. She heard that name before, "Jason?"

"You don't remember little Medea? You don't remember Uncle Jason? You were nine the last time I saw you. You've had six years free of me, and what did Lacy allow you to do. She let you actually take karate and learn to defend yourself." Jason hissed.

Alex looked away from him and over to Joe. "Why don't you let him go?"

She saw Jason get up and walk over to Joe and hit him while he was passed out. "No, Medea. Has he not told you about me? Shame, what a dreadful father he is."

Jason walked back over to Alex and stooped back down. "He's the reason why I even have you. He's the reason why I took your mother from him. No, I can't let him go. He'll die, but not after I kill you first and he watches."

Alex closed her eyes. Her hands were tied behind her back and feet were bound. "I don't understand how you know Bella."

"You want a story? Why not? You've earned that much." Jason said.

Alex opened her eyes.

"Pick her up and put her back on the couch." Jason said.

Bella did as she was told and moved Alex back to the couch. Alex sat and picked up her feet then she looked at Jason. Bella was off to her left, she could barely make her out. The optometrist said her vision would come back, and that it wasn't permanent.

Jason sat down on the coffee table in front of Alex. "I met Bella while I was in the FBI. We hit it off, we sort of see things alike. Bella had an enemy growing up in school as well as I did. I helped her get rid of hers, and she agreed to help me get rid of mine when the right time came. I knew Lacy was a dope head, I made her that way." He laughed.

Alex could see Joe's head as it lulled behind Jason, she knew Joe was waking up.

"And she earned a debt to Shiropolli." Alex said.

"Yeah the bitch did. Big enough that Victor wanted it back with interest. So I nabbed her. But you see, you were still living with her, and well Victor wanted his money. I talked him into letting you pay off the debt for her. Victor wasn't into letting any family members do that before, so I had to convince him of it. I had to call Enrico for him to comply, but it put you in the cage."

"Lacy wasn't enough for you?" Alex asked.

Bella barked with laughter. "No."

"Shut up, Bella. I'm telling this story. Go get me a drink." Jason said.

Alex watched Bella as she left the room and turned back to see Jason looking after her as well, but she saw Joe raise his head and look at her.

"Why me?" Alex asked.

Jason looked back at her. "Because you were one of the strings I had left dangling. I needed to finish my job with you. You were a very scared and frightened little girl when I left you at eight. Killing Lacy felt good, she fucked up and allowed you to get an attitude you never should have had. Can't you remember what I did to Michael? After he took you to the shore?"

Alex closed her eyes.

"You really don't remember do you? You don't remember walking into the apartment and seeing me with Lacy."

Alex started breathing fast, she blocked out all of this, but while he was talking she got flashes of seeing him. Flashes of Jason hitting Lacy, telling her she was a complete fuck up. Then him turning when they walked through the door. The anger that was in his eyes.

Alex opened her eyes and looked at Jason.

"Ah, so you are remembering now. So afraid of needles you became that day. Would you like a repeat of that?" Jason asked softly.

"No." Alex said as her voice wavered, her heart started racing. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly trying to drive the fear down, way down inside.

"Shame. You screamed ever so well for me that day."

Alex could see Joe as he was struggling with the ropes that tied him to the chair. Her mind was racing.

"You killed Michael, and you told Lacy not to let me take karate anymore. Then you left." Alex said and she focused back on Jason. "Then you...then you..."

Jason smiled. "Then I went back into the FBI, I got cut when I helped Bella kill her enemy. Bella told me all about her life, I was the one who became a renegade first. Bella followed, I put her with Enrico, and she follows orders better than Lacy ever did. But Lacy failed me, I thought I had scared you enough to make sure you wouldn't go back to learning karate. I see my mistake now, it was letting you live. I should have killed you the day I killed Lacy. Then Joe Morelli found out who you were. Killing you now in front of him will only make it that much sweeter."

"Jason look out!" Bella yelled.

Alex saw Joe had freed himself from the chair. He had it picked up and swung it as Jason turned. His mouth was still taped and gagged. Alex pulled her hands under her rear and lifted her legs. She was still tied but now she had her hands in front of her instead of behind her. The chair hit Jason and Alex kicked with both feet and made contact with his head as it came around.

Bella dropped the glass. Alex lifted her feet above her head and rolled backwards. Her feet landed on the floor behind the couch and watched as Bella started running for her. Alex braced herself, she couldn't use her legs. Bella charged and Alex used her momentum and she placed her arms open at the last second and Bella's head went through as Alex dove away from the couch. She heard the snap as they rolled. Alex turned her head to the left and felt sick, she had never killed anyone before and Bella was lying on top of her. She moved her arms out from around Bella's neck and pushed Bella's head off.

She could hear Joe and Jason on the other side of the couch. Alex pushed and was able to get half of Bella off of her. Then she heard the loud fart that came out of Bella's body as it defecated on her. Alex threw up. She heard the loud thump and groans from across the room and then looked up to see Jason walking to her.

Jason's eyes were wild. He had blood and drool coming from his mouth.

"Scream for me." Jason said softly.

Alex pushed frantically at Bella's body and she felt Jason grab her tied ankles. He pulled her forward away from Bella.

"No!" Alex screamed.

She rolled over laying flat on her stomach trying to get away from him. Then she saw it. The revolver that Bella had pulled on her back in the break room at Ranger's place. Alex reached for it and pulled it out of the holster, she turned and screamed as she unloaded the gun at point blank range in Jason's chest. Jason stumbled backwards, he still had Alex's ankle in his grasp. She kept pulling the trigger and it the only clicked.

"No!" Alex kept screaming.

Epilogue:

It's been three weeks. Three long weeks. It's taken me that long to process that my daughter killed two people. I watched Alex as she was on the mat in the dojo inside the Temple School of Martial Arts. I haven't pushed her to talk about that day. I can see she doesn't want to, but I know she's going to have to talk about it sooner or later. Jose had flown out, but Alex wouldn't talk to him. She's stubborn, just as much as I am. At first I really wanted to blame Ranger for all of this, I thought he set this all up, I was that angry about it. I found out he didn't even know. Bella had hid everything from him and her family.

We leave tomorrow. I talked her into Disneyland. I want one week for her to just be a kid before we have to go back. Before I have to go to work and she has to go to school. I think it'll do both of us a lot of good.

I'm taking back a lot of good memories of her here, and I'm sure there are going to be a lot of good ones to come. I can now understand why she likes karate so much. It's what happens when she's doing the katas. It was strange at first; it was like she was doing some type of dance. It was really beautiful, but then I saw the smile she had on her face after she did it. It was while she was doing those katas she didn't have to worry about anything, because she found her inner peace with them.

I stood up and looked at the man that was doing the kata beside her. We're bringing him back with us. He's American. We're pretty sure we know who he is. Alex had told me about seeing his picture on Santos' wall in his apartment. I made a few calls and sent off the prints, I got the call an hour ago. He was Stephen Santos. He's been missing in action for quite awhile, and he's taken some of that hard attitude out of Alex. He's kicked her around enough.

"Hey you two, we need to go pack." I yelled over at them.

Alex put her hands on her hips, "I'm not ready, let me finish this kata."

"How's that to address your father? What did I tell you?" Stephen asked.

"Sorry Master," Alex bowed to Stephan and walked off the mat and bowed towards the mat.

I watched as she came over to me and looked up at me. "I'm sorry, Sir. May I please finish the kata?"

"Yes. Make it quick, I'm ready for the Mattahorn."

Alex put her arms around me. "Thank you."

"You're welcome Kitten."

She looked up at me. "Meow!"


End file.
